Originally Posted by
Senior Skipper
LOL. We're old friends USMC (at least I hope we still are). Perhaps my brush was too broad, and with harsh bristles. Yes, I have met several successful pilots who hold the degree- there's no doubt about that. However nobody has ever told me they'd do it again. They all advise to do a more broadly applicable degree.
You wouldn't advise that course of study under these conditions for obvious reasons, but with the benefit of hindsight, under what circumstances would you encourage somebody to do it? I'm not trying to argue the value, just trying to find out what conditions would benefit most from the degree.
Of course
Would I do it again? If I found myself it the same set of circumstances that I did 20+ years ago I would probably go down the same path.
In my case - I needed a degree to get to where Iw as going. Like some airlines - my hopeful future didn't care what the degree was in - just that I had one.
I was stuck in a no-where major and I only had one driving interest in my life at the time. Well.....two drives but only one had a degree associated with it!
Also....a defining difference was that I knew that further down the road that I would not be relying on that major to get me a job outside of flying if I found myself looking down that particular path.
I think that flying is more akin to a trade school than a 4 year degree type of program. I do consider it a profession, but a profession of a trade.
In a similar way that a person would go to trade school for welding or auto mechanics - are people telling them to get a skill in something else or a degree in someting marketable?
The difference must be job stability and portability, but honestly I don't know much about being a welder, auto mechanic or plumber. a few people I know in those TRADES (to include small appliance repair) own their own businesses and work their butts off but seem to be doing pretty good but they worry about their job/businesses everyday!
USMCFLYR