maximaman

In the future the only real career choice will be to build houses like Skyhigh.

SkyHigh

In the past our country was built upon the small business. The cycle is coming around again. In the future the only way to earn a better living will be to own a business. Anything that involves labor and skills will be in demand.

SkyHigh

maximaman

Today its seems hard to run a retail business when competing with all the big box stores. Small business can be successful though when you are in a specialized field.

Jbond006

SAAb I work at the same place you do and I am not going to make anywhere near $40000 for the year might make 23000 before taxes after payroll deductions for uniforms and taxes much much less. It is a joke and I bet you are working extra picking up red flag and giving up QOL if at $34/hr you ar making 40k and pinnical pay isn't that high for an FO. I agree the future looks very bright for us as Airline pilots. We have to take what is ours though. This means when everyone’s next contract is up we need all the majors and regional to bounce back pre 9/11 pay plus inflation and then some and get better work rules. I am still on reserve and I love my job but I am sure it will be much better once I am a line holder and can't get abused. Our contract is one of the best in the industry but we still get abused. I couldn't imagine working at a place like mesa or other places with their work rules. SAAB I believe you made a lateral move to get to express. Was it do to QOL and why should you have to do that? Another problem is pilots as a whole flying an E-jet basically a DC-9 with the 190 and 170 replacing mainline route for less pay because it is at a regional and doesn’t say Boeing. Making less flying one of those than guys flying a 50seater with worse work rules would be embarrassing to me. I hope we can all stick together as a pilot group in the years to come and get this profession back to its old glory.

There is no job I would rather have than being an airline pilot but I think carriers need to raise rates and pilot need to stop paying for every 2 bit hillbilly who wants a $99 round trip to Ft. Myers.

Jason

emsgoof

Yep, and the only thing you have to give is back to back 18 month deployments to the desert, leaving family and friends behind. Or better yet, a 4 year sea duty rotation, followed by what is supposed to be your 3 year shore rotation just to have them pull you to the desert again as an individual augmentee for another branch of the service. Then, if you are one of the people to get hurt on AD, you get to come back to an incompetent VA program, where they don't treat you, and give out your personal information because they "accidentally" let someone take a laptop home, so now you can't even apply for credit unless it's in person because you have a warning on your credit reports... (ie: no pre-approval for mortgage or vehicle loans, etc)
Better yet, you wait 2 years on an on-base housing list just to get into some rat-infested firetrap (no they're not all like that) while your housing allowance doesn't cover the amount you have to pay in rent / commute costs.
Yeah, military is freaking sunshine and rainbows...

sflpilot

Oh stop with the doctor thing! Pilots are not doctors and never will be. You can't even compare the two.

SkyHigh

Competing in retail is difficult. I would recommend cultivating a skill or trade that is difficult to duplicate.

I have a friend who took a 6 week course on HAVC and now is worth several million as a specialist in geothermal heating and cooling systems. He has never hired a single employee but has several independent contractors that work with him.

I also work with a Mexican national who came to this country ten years ago with out any formal schooling or english skills. Today he owns a successful landscaping business and earns as much as a major airline captain.

SkyHigh

ChinookDriver47

Holy crap Sir, you just described PERFECTLY what is going on with a certain flight school, in a certain branch of the military. Prior experience excluded, the active side of the house is recrtuiting kids out of high school to be combat helo pilots. The selection rate is good too.

Short story...I was in the elevator headed to class on base when in walks this kid, no mroe than 20 who was sporting wings and a flight jacket. I asked him what he flew, he told me, and I asked "Sir, no disrespect, I am sure you get this all the time, but do yuor parents know that you are flying a combat airframe?" He laughed, said he did in fact get that alot and he had just gotten off the phone with his mom.

We were in the same astro-physics class. I got a better grade than he did.

Indeed be prepared for the next generation, but don't dog on them until you know them. There are a still a few good apples out there who were raised right and have a decent work ethic. VERY FEW, but they are out there.

blastboy

LOL This is so sad but can become a reality before we know it. The US has some of the lousiest standards for business and work ethic in the world, particularly for the airlines as most of us know. It would not surprise me if highschool kids start flying RJs fresh out of a cadet program. LOL The solutions that companies come up with to solve their labor issues (lack there of in current events) is illogical, idiotic and just plain stupid. This beating around the bush that the companies are doing with the pilot shortage is going to cost them huge in the long run. The solution is to just pay better wages, drastically improve benefits/retirement and improve the working environment to make the company more attractive which will increase employee longevity. Maybe if the companies started listening to the people (the employees!) that know what they're talking about they can actually move forward and get somewhere instead of taking huge strides backwards. And just maybe for one day an entire schedule can be fulfilled without delays due to a pilot shortage. It's amazing that most of these managers and CEOs graduated from Ivy league schools but have the logic, reasoning and brains of a rock. Actually, they would probably be out smarted by the rock.

The framer for our up and coming house makes more than a senior captain at a major airline. The plumber makes a truckload as well and the dump truck driver makes a little over $50K, as I looked into that for myself. The pay for most trade skills is going up while the pay for pilots is remaining at a level that amounts to dunnage dumped overboard from a ship (compared to what it use to be!)

SkyHigh

It may not be perfect but the military will take care of you. Try being laid off during an industry slowdown.

SkyHigh