Originally Posted by
labbats
Good point. However, you aren't the one hiring. After 3 years at Flight Express you can get a job at a regional. After 3 years at Great Lakes (and making captain after 1.5 years) you can go anywhere.
I flew at Flight Express and while you'll get more time off, you'll actually have less of a life. It's hard to meet girls when you get off at 5am and have no real co-workers. While Great Lakes isn't a great job, it meets the requirements for moving on to bigger and better things and Denver is a great city filled with fun people and things to do.
That's a very valid point, and when the times are good and you can get a quick upgrade I don't know anyone who'd turn that down. But if times are tough and you sit at the bottom of the list as an FO for a long stretch and end up with a furlough letter, where are you then?
That was my problem. I got into an RJ with 900 hours and racked up a decent amount of turbine SIC, only to get a furlough letter. When I hit the street there were 37000 other people with just as much, if not more, turbine SIC than I had. Hell, I'd say every 1 in 3 people you meet walking down the street have some turbine SIC from something.
It just doesn't separate you from the pack. Guys with a bunch of turbine SIC are a dime a dozen.
Here's where I think the OP can stand out a bit: at 21, things can change in the next 2 years before he's eligible for upgrade. If he does lose his seat between now and then he's not left with anything that makes him any different than anyone else. What can make him stand out on a resume is a solid amount of 135 PIC now, then in a couple years when he can qualify for an ATP he'll be able to rack up as much turbine SIC (and eventually PIC) as he can get, knowing that he has a well-rounded resume.
JMHO.