JamesAA

Well almost 40, I'm still hanging on to 39 as long as I can!

Here's the deal with me. I'm 39, jobless and can't get anything going (career wise) for the life of me. I'm talking office jobs, down to jobs at Target. Nobody is interested. I live in San Jose. The problem is my resume. I've been a professional (online) poker player for the past 10 years. I believe the working world considers me to be unhirable.

In 1998 I graduated from Berkeley with a B.S. in statistics.

I also obtained my PPL at age 18, in 1992 but haven't flown since.

So since I can't seem to get any "real jobs" I thought, what the hell, why not pursue something I love...flying! I know I'll never see big bucks in aviation, and that's ok. I'm not crazy. I would take a statistician/actuary job that pays $75k right now over flying, any day of the week and twice on Sundays. But I am getting zero feedback from companies hiring statisticians. I think there are too many people my age with 10+ years of experience. Why hire me when they can grab someone right out of college with effectively the same experience (none, just a degree)? It depresses me, but I guess I can see their logic.

So my thoughts were since the $75k office jobs seem totally out of the question, may as well build up some hours and take a shot at being a pilot. I do LOVE aviation. I don't need the majors to make me happy. Regional, corporate, cargo...fine by me. I'm just hoping to make it to something like a slick turbo prop or jet some day.

So is this a terrible idea or could it work?

Oh and for whatever it's worth, poker is just not an option for me anymore. I had a nice run but I just can't do it anymore. Furthermore, the fish pool has GREATLY died off ever since April 2011 when the feds got involved. So I need another career and I'm freaked cause I see nothing but nothingness on the horizon. Scary!

Thanks for any help/comments/suggestions and best of luck to everyone here. I know aviation has seen it's better days and perhaps many of you reading this are struggling to find steady work. Godspeed to you if that is the case!

James

Around123

Can you pay for training out of pocket and are you single? If you have a family I would not. You maybe poor in the beginning. I made 13,000 my first your after college and worked about 80 hours a week to do it.

Have you thought about opening up your own business?

nader saeed

I think there might be a solution but I am not sure if it will work with your age but it will cost a lot.

First get your CPL, IR , ME

After completing you will do Airline Training and in this training you will do the job for real, flying with passengers and gaining experience at the same time.

This training is very expensive depends on how many hours you want. You will have many options like 300 hours or 500 hours etc.

Eagle Jet International do this
Eagle Jet Flight Training and Sales, Piston Flight Training and Jet Sales, Airplane Sales.


As I said I am not sure if it will work, its only a suggestion.

scubabri

You are not going to make a livable salary for up to 10 years. Some do, most dont.

Just something to think about.

JamesAA

Thank you guys for all your input and insights. I am not single. I have a wife and a 3 year old son. I can pay for the training out of my own pocket but I'm not sitting on a huge bank account my any means.

I'm not too surprised to hear that I wouldn't be making any significant money for another 10 years. Normally I wouldn't walk into a proposition like this. The ONLY reason I'm considering it is simply because I can see myself unemployed over the next 10 years, based on my utter disappointment in my job searches. I kid you not, at least here in the bay area, I am striking out like you wouldn't believe. And quite a large number are jobs that don't require much more than a H.S. degree. So at least being a low paid pilot beats no salary. Plus it beats sitting around the house all day worrying about my career future. So ironically it's the very fact that the economy is so bad that is making me seriously consider aviation. The irony is that the same poor economy has crippled aviation jobs.

Blackwing

Why not take your game to Vegas? If you're good enough at poker to have made a living online for 10 years, you can make a living in the card rooms in Vegas.

RemoveB4flght

Many years ago I had a guy in my new hire regional class who had changed careers and did exactly what you are talking about doing, and he was actually a few years older.

The difference is that he was able to get into one of these zero to hero bridge programs that while costing six figures, got him to a regional flying a jet PDQ. He also had a mortgage sized payment looming over his head during the first few lean years.

The problem for you now is that it's not 2003, and while yes regionals are hiring now, you also lack the ATP minimums to be part of this wave. With the 1500 hour requirement, the Zero to Hero programs still exist, but gone are the days that 200+ hours and a wet commercial multi certificate will get you in the show.

I will not rehash the multitude of ways you can go about getting into this industry, and I 'm not here to convince you either way, but here's some food for thought:

Training costs: crazy self study at a mom and pop flight school, or big name puppy mill. 30 to 100 thousand. This depends on how well you research options, how well you study (especially on your own), and the type of aircraft you train in.

Experience building: finding a job you will be happy to do to build time towards 1500 hours, instructing, small cargo, flying skydivers etc. Something you may have to do several years before you find yourself interviewing.

Family commitments: Aviation has stressed more than a few families. The focus of training and job search and commuting etc has to be weighed.

The job: All in right now if you started and hit the training hard and then instructed your ass off, feasible you could be nearing ATP minimums by 42-43. If you got on with a regional, with movement perhaps an upgrade in 5 years and could eventually make the six figure gross ballpark. With age 65 tule, theoretically you could spend 15 years as a barbie jet captain and do OK.

-will the regional be around for the next 20 years? no way to know
-can you keep a first class medical to 65?
-are you going to commute the whole time?
-holidays will be off limits for many years, again family issue

Other guys can give you more insight to things to consider, but bottom line it's not impossible or impractical, and no two pilots have the same experience, but flying is a cruel mistress who has had her way with more than one shiny jet seeker.

Good luck mate

JamesAA

Believe it or not there's better "action" at the California card rooms, i.e. Bay 101, Commerce, etc. But basically I'm totally burnt out of poker. There's a saying, "poker is the hardest way to make an easy living." I can personally testify to just how spot on this adage is. It's easy in that you have no boss, no deadlines, no dress code, etc, but VERY draining on you mentally, emotionally and even financially at times. While pros will beat the game over the long run, there are invariably streaks when you are losing tons of money, even when you are playing correctly and getting your money in good, making good folds, etc. It's variance (aka the devil to a poker pro...2 devils actually, variance and the rake lol). Plus you don't feel like you are doing anything productive in society, and that begins to wear on you over time, believe it or not. Well it does for me, anyway.

I may be stuck with poker if I can't find something else, but I'd really like to get out if possible. It's a GREAT game and I'm far, far from being sick of playing. It's just a difficult thing to do when it's your soul source of income. I'd much rather have a steady job and play poker once a week, with friends or something.

JamesAA

Solid post Removeb4flght! Tremendous insights. I thank you sir for sharing your knowledge with me. Logically it makes little sense for me to pursue this. But I'm different. I might have to in order to keep myself from going insane (from being stuck at home, jobless, with no future) lol.

So when they ask me in the interview, "why did you decide to be a pilot..." I guess the truthful answer would be, "to prevent myself from cracking and being put in a straight jacket." I might have to fib on that one, come to think of it!

MD90PIC

If you want to do it, then just do it. You'll get a lot of good advice from guys/gals here who have gone down a similar road at one point in their careers. You'll also have C-172 Captains, who spend more time on APC then they do in the air, tell you it can't be done or that it would be a foolish thing to peruse due to age/family/ATP/etc. Don't let that type of BS discourage you, consider the source and move forward. Good luck