Originally Posted by
notEnuf
IMHO A thirty year career resulting in 15 years as an FO and 15 Years asa captain was a good career. I could have upgraded at 4 years but M88 plug NYC was not the QOL I wanted. The absolute earliest isn't always the most desireable. I finally went NBA at 12 years and was still well below my FO QOL. Thankfully things moved quickly after that. I made NBA money as an senior 7ERB working about as much with way more QOL control with buyoffs and GSs. Just one data point, but I thought i'd offer it up for those who want the left seat ASAP. That's really an emotional or ego decision rather than an earnings efficiencey and QOL decision but there's nothing wrong with that.
For those of us with 20-25 years here (hired early 40s) it was a "do I play the game hard as a senior-ish ER FO, or just do 72 a month as a NBA"
I chose NBA (now ERA) and make a little more than when I was hustling as a ER FO, but the 6 months I rolled thunder last year. Yeah. That paid for a lot of my new house.