What nobody has mentioned yet is the competitive angle of just getting the job versus getting to the highest-paying level of the job.

Someone coming out of school with an engineering or medical degree can get their first job quite easily, but they must spend their whole career working harder than everyone else if they want to be promoted to the highest paid levels of their chosen field. There will be competition for EVERY raise and promotion. You might be great friends with the ten other guys you were hired with, but only one of you will get the manager position.

You can never take a break because with that increased pay comes the expectation of increased value. They got that job real easy in their twenties, but they are still grinding into their forties and fifties because the new kids coming out of college have no families or hobbies and they are ready to work harder and for way less money.

When the company needs to shed some payroll, it’s the senior guys in the crosshairs. They better hope all that extra effort is still valuable to the folks in HR, otherwise that big paycheck is low hanging fruit in a downturn.

At the airlines, you have to be more competitive than all the other guys exactly once... on interview day. From that point out, your seniority number is yours. Your base, equipment, and seat are whatever you can hold. You don’t need to schmooze the boss or get extra Masters Degrees or work weekends to get the next promotion.

As long as the company doesn’t fold in a downturn, you can count the pilots below you on the list and know if you’re getting the axe. You don’t need to work on your days off or throw your coworkers under the bus to survive job cuts.

At the airlines, you don’t need to achieve more than the ten guys you were hired with. You all upgrade together (if you want).

I like not having to weasel and sweat my way to job security; I’ve been there and that’s way too much stress. But place whatever value you want on that life stress.