Originally Posted by
jedinein
These questions are for considering leaving the career. I know I've missed some, please add the questions you've asked yourselves, and/or others, and any pro/con mitigations you've cooked up for yourself. Maybe this thread can be useful in asking the right questions to get a personal decision.
...snip...
Good post. Several of the reasons you list are why I want to leave. This is my second career; I left a stable local gov't job. At the time, it seemed right as I was bored and ready for a change. Now, I'm bored, and paid less, and home less, and have less stability, and have less benefits, and an unhappy family. I miss stable schedules, miss my hobbies, miss my family and doing things with them on their days off - now mine never match theirs of course - and I miss the days when things were 'simpler'. So in summary, I miss the 'simple life', since becoming an airline pilot things have become stressful and complicated on so many levels. I work to live, not vice versa, and I've found that isn't very compatible with this career. I was much happier before, though I took it for granted. Now I and my family pay the price.
Originally Posted by
jedinein
Having to explain your actions to some desk jockey that wasn't there, couldn't possibly understand the situation, and is insulting your intelligence and questioning your integrity?
This, specifically, is proving to become an all to common occurrence when I interview for non flying jobs. They always think I'm A) Rolling in dough, and B) living a glamorous life. When I detail the realities, they think I'm lying (I've been called a liar right to my face!). There are so many misconceptions about this career that are proving very, very difficult to overcome in my experience.