Guys, 'college graduates' aren't exactly in better straits at the moment than wanna-be airline pilots-- you do know that, right?

I'm getting kinda tired of the old refrain 'Get a degree in something else, not aviation!' ... Aviation isn't alone in not caring what sort of degree (if any) you hold. That BS in psychology or english literature isn't going to lead you into a career any more surely than a degree in airline operations or some other such thing.

Frankly, college is a racket. I don't have a degree and I make a healthy salary at 30 that I doubt I could make if I spent twenty years flying for the airlines. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm happy doing what I do, just that I happen to possess a skill and it happens to be valuable. People with degrees in my field invariably are useless-- I look for personality, attitude and aptitude, not paper, when I interview.

Again, college is truly a racket. College is big business. Like all big business, it wants to make money. Thus the business of education makes it seem like the only way to excel is to go to college, and if you tell someone something enough times, it'll eventually stick, even if only a little bit... Does this sound familiar? It should; the glossy-brochure companies use the exact same tactic, because they're in the exact same business.

(Of course, that said, I hope that someday, when and if I pursue a job as a pilot, my experience excelling in a highly technical career field will count for much more than a lousy degree from some community college. All jobs in my industry require a degree "or equivalent experience", which I possess in droves. Unfortunately, in a market situation where the need is low and the pool of applicants large, and the need for "superstars" is nonexistent, paperwork and proficiency are all that matter...so I'm likely doomed. Fortunately, CFI or 135 is the peak of my ambition. (Actually, flying warbirds and classics is the peak of my ambition, but I digress...))

~Foxy