Originally Posted by Brillo

Some good points made from both perspectives here. A few years prior to retiring from the military I was working on my MBA. Flying professionally after the Marines wasn't really on my radar. For many military aviators (not all), the mindset is "I gotta go to the airlines, that's what people like me do." I wasn't really like that, and knew there were plenty of cool things to do besides being an airline pilot. But as the time got closer and hiring really started to pick up, I did some soul searching and number crunching and realized (through many conversations with friends in the business world) that nowhere else was someone going to compensate me this well for this amount of work. Yes, there's a lot of responsibility in the sense of many lives depending on you not screwing it up, but it isn't the responsibility of being beholden to a corporation and management 24/7 as a salaried professional. We are highly skilled, trained professionals, and making an airline pilot isn't easy, but our day-to-day job is ridiculously easy. Widebody captains making north of $400k per year basically have the job obligations of a minimum wage worker (show up on time, do your job, don't steal anything, don't yell at the customers). Again, we have a lot more riding on our performance, but it isn't like we're sitting up there white-knuckled, sweating under the pressure.

I know everyone can point to random cushy corporate gigs or working for certain small business sectors where the pay is really good for not a lot of stress/work. But those are the exception. Fortune 500 management types with graduate degrees from really good universities and a decade plus of experience are fighting to crack $200k, and they are working their asses off to get it. Making that as a five year FO at a legacy/major is the norm. I know the regionals are a different story and that it's not guaranteed, but in the current environment, it isn't a complete stretch to think that a regional pilot today who keeps their nose clean has a pretty good shot at getting hired by a legacy eventually.

Now, commuting will obviously add to your stress level and time away from home. That last part, time away from home is the biggy. Regardless of how you slice it, you will be gone a lot. Some people mentioned that their "useful" time at home is actually better as a pilot, as opposed to working long days and only seeing your family a bit in the mornings and evenings. I get that. Still, at least for me, there is a difference between being gone several days at a stretch and seeing your kids a little each day. As much as you try to amp up the family time when you are home as a pilot, they still have school, activities, life that goes on, so I don't think it completely evens out.

But ultimately, if you get to a point where you live in base, and have a bit of seniority built up, it can be an extremely flexible, lucrative and stress free career. And even though the romantic nature of flying does wear off quite a bit, you still occasionally enjoy things about that as well.