The longer it is before hired, the longer it will be to upgrade at NJA. Probably at least 4 years, probably longer for someone hired now. The company can only train so many people at a time- last year pushed it to the breaking point and I'm guessing they won't push more than 350-400 a year again after the major logjam that happened last year. The company keeps about 2/3rds of the pilots as CA so if you are number 3000 on the list, there will need to be about 4500 before you upgrade. There is some attrition- mostly junior guys who don't care for the domicile system, but you will move up- I've moved almost 100 places in 1.5 years with the company, but with the good vacation for those who've been here forever and the good money to go with it, the older guys just aren't retiring quickly. We've got guys over 70 who keep truckin' along. The pay scale for an FO is very good for year one, but it goes up very slowly and will really not cut it for year 4 or 5 when a new hire will finally upgrade. The next contract should add to the FO pay quite a bit, but it will be a long time before that happens. Good luck whatever you decide.