I am dropping in here just to say one thing. Others have the same sentiment but I just want to reiterate it.
Personally, I am in this job to push tin, regardless of whether I make 40k or 140k. Ever since I have been a little boy, I have done nothing but turn skyward every single time I hear something that remotely sounds like an aircraft engine. I flown over 230 hours just in the last couple of years (kind of put on hold to save money for OKC) and enjoy every single time I am up in the sky.
I really don't know what the final push towards air traffic control was (instead of sitting in the pointy end of a jet), nor can I really justify my reasoning of not heading off to some school to finish all of my ratings and become a professional pilot. Either way, the starting off pay and lifestyle will not be glamorous by any stretch of the imagination. And frankly I don't really care what I am being paid, just so long as I can make ends meet while I am still in training.
Don't get me wrong, the six figure potential annual salary is very appealing. I just want the guy sitting next to me working the scopes doing it because he/she loves the job more than he/she loves the paycheck. Its kind of scary listening to everyone bitch about a lower salary to start (and technically finish). That to me screams "motivated by paycheck. Perhaps I am reading into it wrong?
I know I belong here in the aviation field. There is no better place than being around aviation for me. Perhaps a lower salary, but once hired in and passed all CVs at my facility, I have a job. One that I love.
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