For the record, I've not been forced into what I have done, nor would I do it differently, given the chance.
It may be true that I've done a lot more than you.
That includes corporate, airline, working as an instructor, fly ag, fire, and a few other jobs along the way.
That one day trip, with a day commuting before and after quickly becomes 72 hours. A three day trip with a day before and after for commuting quickly becomes 120 hours away from home. The attorney who sleeps in his own bed after putting in a 10-15 hour day may not appreciate the difference.
With a typical duty day for many pilots at 14 hours...something I've regularly seen in instructing, corporate, fractional, 135, airline, and so on, as well as various government flying, it's not an exception and it's closer to the upper limit that the attorney original poster cited as unbearable.
The long-haul pilot seeing 18-30 hour duty days isn't deep into his career any more, where many of those hiring into ACMI long haul cargo operations are regional kids with very little experience or years on the job. Especially today. The experience level being hired is breathtakingly low.
As for networking, I've never found it necessary to get a job because I knew someone, and have always done it on my own merits. If you see that as a handicap, that's unfortunate for you. I have a very low opinion of those who beg and scrape for a recommendation to get a foot in the door. I've certainly given recommendations for those who were worthy, but those who grovel seeking out a toe-hold, rather than stand on their own two feet, stand out as pathetic and of small caliber. Those who make contacts for the purpose of using those contacts as toe-holds on their curtain climb to the big brass ring disgust me. No, I don't network, and I'm quite content with my employment, thanks. My comments are not a complaint.
The truth is that aviation is no less tenuous; a small mistake becomes a matter of permanent record. A minor medical issue can cost a job, and a career. The hours can be exceptionally long. The flight hours in a given week are not a reflection of the amount of time dedicated to the job; one might fly a few hours, but the time spent away from home, preparing for, operating, concluding, can be much more than most people put in with a 9-5 job. Even if that 9-5 job goes 10-15 hours a day, and even if that 9-5 job also works weekends, and puts in more than bankers hours.
So far as the implication that the long hours and days only come after years of investment in the career, that's a load of crap. Those who fly long haul can look back at other jobs done to get there, and find they worked harder and longer, doing regional and 135 jobs. The long haul pilot who is doing one trip every few days, one leg, and is home-based may well look back at time spent doing 14 hour duty days with multiple legs a day, commuting to and from work, floating a crash pad carrying peanut butter sandwiches with his luggage and eating in the cockpit during quick turns or between radio calls on short legs, and view those as good experience, but certainly a less desirable lifestyle. The harder work is usually put in during the early years. If the original poster in this five-year-dead thread were to think the grass is greener, that the work is lighter, or somehow more glorious, it's possible he may find the reality not nearly an upgrade from the lift of an attorney as he's described. Such is subjective.
Aviation is not, for the most part, a 9-5 job.