Flying versus Engineering
04-27-2014 | 05:57 AM
#21
Prime Minister/Moderator
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 44,908
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From: Engines Turn or People Swim
Hate to say it, but it's kind of that way on the outside.
Try getting out of the military at 33, and going right into the job where guys who have worked there since college are. Not going to happen in most places.
I got paid essentially the same, worked the same, and shat on the same as a kid who graduated from school a month before I got out of the Navy.
Try getting out of the military at 33, and going right into the job where guys who have worked there since college are. Not going to happen in most places.
I got paid essentially the same, worked the same, and shat on the same as a kid who graduated from school a month before I got out of the Navy.
The reason some companies are willing to bring in ex-mil guys who are ten years behind their peers is because they know that on average the ex-mil person will hit the plates running and be a long-term asset. But you need to find a company that wants to put you on a track, as opposed to one that's just looking for reliable entry-level labor.
04-27-2014 | 09:15 AM
#22
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 624
Likes: 0
From: BE350 PIC
I heard what you are saying now, when I was getting out.
I have about 9 other Pilots/NFOs/SWOs I have known since OCS that all got hit at the same RIF. 7/9 of us were more or less treated like entry level labor in the grand scheme of things, having been told "perform, and you will move up faster"..
Only 2 of us actually saw anything resembling that.
My experience is a lot of companies say they value veterans, preferential hire, blah, blah, rah rah.
It's mostly talk and little action on their part. Most of us heard the same thing, perform, and move up quickly.
By every metric the company tracked, I was the #1 Engineer/Project Manager in the Rocky Mountain Region. I had a reputation for getting the impossible done, keeping equipment running when others would be hard down, etc. Customers would specify "Master comes or no contract".
Yet when I asked for a raise/promotion when I had another offer, I got an ass chewing asking how dare I even ask for a raise when Melonhead (a ****ty engineer) has been there 6 years and hasn't been promoted yet.
So I left. Much happier now.
I have about 9 other Pilots/NFOs/SWOs I have known since OCS that all got hit at the same RIF. 7/9 of us were more or less treated like entry level labor in the grand scheme of things, having been told "perform, and you will move up faster"..
Only 2 of us actually saw anything resembling that.
My experience is a lot of companies say they value veterans, preferential hire, blah, blah, rah rah.
It's mostly talk and little action on their part. Most of us heard the same thing, perform, and move up quickly.
By every metric the company tracked, I was the #1 Engineer/Project Manager in the Rocky Mountain Region. I had a reputation for getting the impossible done, keeping equipment running when others would be hard down, etc. Customers would specify "Master comes or no contract".
Yet when I asked for a raise/promotion when I had another offer, I got an ass chewing asking how dare I even ask for a raise when Melonhead (a ****ty engineer) has been there 6 years and hasn't been promoted yet.
So I left. Much happier now.
04-28-2014 | 09:14 AM
#23
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 445
Likes: 0
Hate to say it, but it's kind of that way on the outside.
Try getting out of the military at 33, and going right into the job where guys who have worked there since college are. Not going to happen in most places.
I got paid essentially the same, worked the same, and shat on the same as a kid who graduated from school a month before I got out of the Navy.
Try getting out of the military at 33, and going right into the job where guys who have worked there since college are. Not going to happen in most places.
I got paid essentially the same, worked the same, and shat on the same as a kid who graduated from school a month before I got out of the Navy.
They actively recruit guys getting out of the Navy
04-28-2014 | 09:18 AM
#24
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 445
Likes: 0
For those who posted Petroleum Engineering as the "big money ticket", there is a similar thing in that field to aviation.
Start off at a service company, and try to get on with a major.
If you don't get on with a major in 3-5 years, you get branded a service company "lifer" and would take a major pay hit to got to a major at first. So a lot never leave.
I made $115k or so last year working for Baker Hughes. (Service Company).
I was on the road 330 days last year. I had 20 actual days off all year, weekends, vacation, holidays all together.
I was also working 14-18 hour days, 90+ days without a day off. And the second a customer so much as balked at the bill or "your trucks left ruts on the access road" they would dock half your pay (half-ish was salary, another half was "operations bonus", so ****ty, but legal).
Leave on a "2 week job". Come home 4 months later. Be home 36 hours then go to Africa for 2 months.
F. That. Noise.
If it was $250k a year, it may be worth doing for a year or two to pay off student loans, buy a house cash, etc.
But for $115. No way.
Also, if you think Airline company management sucks.. BHI owes me $6k in pay, and I'm having to sue them for it. Why? Because my company issued laptop, that was 2 years old, has scratches on it, and my company iPhone has a small crack in the screen (can't even see unless it's out of it's Otterbox) and they "have to take the cost of replacement" out of my final check. Nevermind it's lived on oil rigs for the last two years and the scratches are only cosmetic.
Oh, and to buy that exact laptop new from Dell is about $1200.
Start off at a service company, and try to get on with a major.
If you don't get on with a major in 3-5 years, you get branded a service company "lifer" and would take a major pay hit to got to a major at first. So a lot never leave.
I made $115k or so last year working for Baker Hughes. (Service Company).
I was on the road 330 days last year. I had 20 actual days off all year, weekends, vacation, holidays all together.
I was also working 14-18 hour days, 90+ days without a day off. And the second a customer so much as balked at the bill or "your trucks left ruts on the access road" they would dock half your pay (half-ish was salary, another half was "operations bonus", so ****ty, but legal).
Leave on a "2 week job". Come home 4 months later. Be home 36 hours then go to Africa for 2 months.
F. That. Noise.
If it was $250k a year, it may be worth doing for a year or two to pay off student loans, buy a house cash, etc.
But for $115. No way.
Also, if you think Airline company management sucks.. BHI owes me $6k in pay, and I'm having to sue them for it. Why? Because my company issued laptop, that was 2 years old, has scratches on it, and my company iPhone has a small crack in the screen (can't even see unless it's out of it's Otterbox) and they "have to take the cost of replacement" out of my final check. Nevermind it's lived on oil rigs for the last two years and the scratches are only cosmetic.
Oh, and to buy that exact laptop new from Dell is about $1200.
Im in a tougher position to leave the industry for aviation, got myself onboard with a chinese major working a 28/28 rotation in Kazakhstan.
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