Originally Posted by
DontLookDown
As an airline pilot there is no “grinding it out” to work harder than your peers and move up.
You do the strict minimum on the job- show up on time, get your passengers where they need to be safely and abide by the rules.
Anything in excess of that won’t help you gain seniority.
Not entirely true. Some of the resume differentiators do require some hustle, networking at the very least. If you want to get instructor jobs at a regional (historically the gold standard to break out of the herd) you need to maintain a good attendance record, pass all training events, and stay out of trouble... that does actually require some effort.
Until you get your career-destination job, you're always subject to career damaging/ending incidents... you can't prevent those in all cases but study and preparation, knowing memory items, reading NOTAMs, etc can go a long ways.
General aviation and the regionals do actually tend to provide opportunities for slackers to acquire career-altering "issues". It takes some effort to navigate that minefield.