First year nowadays will probably be spent on reserve (if you can find a job anywhere). If you are on reserve, you will usually have 11 days off a month. At my company (well, former company, since I am furloughed) these days are scheduled as 3 hard days off in a row, 4 hard days off in a row, and 4 soft days off that the company can move if they need to. Reserve pilots have a call out time of 1 1/2 to 2 hours (depends on base) and if you do not live close enough to make it to work in that time, you will either have to get a crash pad ($200-$300 per month) or stay in the crew lounge (which sucks if you are on reserve for 6 days straight). On reserve you will have many time where you are on reserve for 6 days, off for 1 day, then back on for 6 days. If this is the case, and you have a late reserve window, you may not get home until your day off, if at all.

Reserve pilots get 70-75 hours minimum guarantee and you will most likely not go over that. (75X $22 per hour = $1650 per month before taxes). Included in one paycheck a month will be your per diem, which on reserve is not that much extra.

Another fun part of being on reserve is sitting at the airport on Ready Reserve. They (at my company) can give you up to 6 ready reserves per month, where you come in and sit at the airport so that if they need a last minute fill in, you are there. The greatest part of ready reserve is that they only pay you half of the time you are there, and those hours count toward your 75 min. so you are pretty much there for free (ok, I know your being paid for 75 hours, but hey, it would be better to stay at home instead of sitting in the crew lounge).

One other thing I can think of that happens on reserve is that you will get a trip, then half way through it, you get pulled off and put on something else. This sucks if you have a good crew and you get pulled off and put on a trip with a bad crew.

If you are starting out, your first few months will be spent in training. Study hard and when you are not in class or the sim, study your flows and systems.

Well, there is probably other stuff that I can't think of. Don't want to make it sound negative, just giving the facts. If you live at home with mom and dad, you should be fine. If you're married or have kids, it is very hard that first year (unless your wife makes pretty good money).

Remember that getting into the airline business, you are subject to being furloughed any time the airline cuts back, the economy worsens, or flights are reduced. All of these things are happening at once right now, so there are thousands of furloughed pilots on the street right now.