I'm working on my instrument at a local flight school and they are willing to hire me to fly pipeline patrol for the same school if I complete my commercial license also with them. I would get paid 20$ an hour and could get 120 hours easily a month and insurance. So I too am considering not going the cfi route since I can get hired after my commercial ticket and then I might try to just buy a share in a twin to build multi-time while living in town and finishing up my bachelors degree and working pipeline. I'm 20, But I am somewhat concerned on if not having my cfi ticket might close some doors for me? My goal is to land a job with a company like skywest after building time flying pipeline.

The good news is that your job opportunity will provide you with real flight time and you will not be perceived to have a bought a job.

The downside:
Near Term: Lack of CFI probably won't affect your ability to get an interview at most regionals, but if there's one regional that would prefer a CFI it's...yup, SkyWest. You will have a much harder time preparing for an airline interview as a pipeline guy. This will be similar to a checkride oral, but your checkrides will be distant memories. The CFI's you will be competing with live and breath that stuff all day long. You instrument skills will probably be non-existent for the interview (unless you're patrolling pilpilines in IMC using thermal and mm-wave imaging lol). Lack of IFR proficiency can kill you in new hire training (and the interview sim). There was a girl in my new hire class who had done traffic watch, no CFI. She struggled during ground school, and was gone after the fourth sim session.

Long-term: When you apply to a major, it will be so competetive that you will need every resume bullet you can get to differentiate you from the herd. There are a lot CFIs out there, you don't want to stand in line behind all of them.

With that being said...Take the Job! That's a lot of hours real quick! But try to get at least a CFI and do a little instruction on the side to keep your nose in the books. Maybe get an MEI, then quit pipeline after 900-1000 hours and then just MEI to get your twin time. There's no job in aviation that I know of that requires more than 1000 hours single-engine time (OK maybe a 135 caravan job).

Skip the CFI and use the money to buy some real IFR training at a reputible simulator company. You can grow old waiting to build time as a CFI. Imagine sitting in the right seat and staring at the hobbs as it painfully slowly turns over and you are bored to tears. No fun.

SkyHigh

I agree with rickair. In fact ill go a step further. Do both. while you are flying the pipe line get your CFI. It will cost a bit but in the end you will be quite surprized with what you learn. Also once a CFI you will keep up with some skills that can degrade IE instrument knowledge and some FAR stuff as well. So I say go for it worst case you loose a few g's but you will learn something out of it.

Aim higher. Go the CFI route you will become a walking aviation encyclopedia. If not, at the very least, you will become a better person. As those old U.S Navy recruiting commercials used to say "Would anyone want to read a book about your life?" I don't think traffic watch would be a good read.

I agree with all of these people. Getting at least your CFI inital is such a HUGE accomplishment. You will feel a great deal of satisfaction that may even motivate you to work on your CFII or even MEI! You can still fly the pipe line gig on the side...but I can promise you this - you will learn more as a flight instructor then you probably have thus far in your aviation career. I would put money on it! Plus, I bet you will get more satisfaction knowing that you passed on your passion to someone else. That is the BEST feeling, I think anyone could ever experience.

Don't let me stop you from flying the pipe line thing. This is just my own personal opinion. Good luck on your future endevors.

D

Dont think of the CFI as a time builder only, think of it as a culmination of all your training. Being a CFI really enhances / reinforces your knowledge, and gets you VERY sharp with all of your flying skills (not just t/o, lnd, and cross xty). Those are skills you loose not teaching. Get the CFI, its good to have and youll thank yourself for it.