Here's one for you, I was hired at XJT in 2000 no long after turning 22. We had a bid, I called the union and was told I'd be upgrading to ERJ-145 Captain two months after turning 24, just a few months shy of 2 years in the company. Watched the NY Giants play Monday Night Football that night contemplating how to handle training in most likely February. I slept in the next morning and my phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing. It was the morning of September 11th, 2001. By the end of the week I was told that I'd be furloughed due to flow backs, a term I had never heard of. I was never furloughed and I eventually upgraded three years later.

Somebody once said this to me in college, and it came from his early 40s L1011 Captain dad, and I think it was the best advice I ever got: "there is always someone who did it younger, faster and better than you could ever do it - so just do a good job and enjoy it."