All of this information is available publicly. The average starting pay for an HVAC tech right out of school is just a bit under $30k. Average pay for everyone in the business is about $45k. Top pay for a tech (not a supervisor, just a regular technician) is just under $70k. Those are typically the top-out jobs doing heavy commercial work, which takes a while to get to.
So I've seen it's around 4 months to 1 year to get an HVAC certificate, which is pretty much the same timeframe training for a regional took under the current pay structure. There were exceptions that have always required a year or two of minimum experience, but many of the regionals were hiring people out of programs that prided themselves on only taking several months from 0 to multi-commercial.
Obviously they cost is higher for learning to fly, but other than that, the entry qualifications to both fields are pretty much the same then: a year or less of technical training. First year airline pay may be only 75% or the HVAC starting pay, but an HVAC tech doesn't incur $30K in training costs in the first 6 weeks while contributing nothing to revenue either. After that, I doubt it takes long for airline pay to get higher--mean and top-end pay for non-managers is certainly higher at regionals.
Regional airline compensation is based on--and reflects--entry requirements that don't include a college degree or any other time-consuming training or building of experience. People will work for cheap if 1) they don't have to do much to get the job other than take out a loan; 2) top-end pay is *way* better than what they could expect with a similar investment of time and education; and 3) the job is actually fun and challenging.
We like to ignore that last part, especially after getting comfortable with a plane/seat/geographic area, but the simple fact is that flying an airliner is a pretty awesome and challenging job (or if it's not, you're doing it wrong). I would love to see some kind of survey on the job satisfaction of people who have left aviation for other careers and how they compare to flying. I left three years ago and am in about as good a career position as anyone could hope for (at a top-tier company that compensates/treats their employees excellently, working in a really exciting area) and I still am sitting here on a pilot forum. I have no idea if I made the right choice or not, but I miss flying daily and I'll likely always have at least a little regret about it.
Same to you. It never ceases to amaze me how people will justify atrocious wages and QOL in the airline industry. Half your life away from home making $20k/yr to start with six figures in student loan debt. Unbelievable.
I'm not trying to come across as a total phallus here, but from my perspective it seems to me that flying has not been all that bad to you. There are *very* few careers that offer Southwest FO pay without a 4-year degree, and almost none other than entertainment or athletics that approach SWA CA pay without one. The trades may be have comparable pay for the most inherently business-savvy who can create and grow their businesses, but I'd be really interested to see what percentage get to that level.
There's really no way for me to quantify my "TAFJ" (Time Away From Job) hours that I currently have compared to what I dealt with in my 8-5 cubicle days. Yeah, I may have been present in my living space more back then, but I sure as hell didn't have more free time back then.
This. My wife hated the time away when I was flying, but she's in for a rude awakening if I stay in this field because 1) it takes a ton of time and 2) when I get home, I think about all the work I have left to do.
