job related rant

[Freiwillige]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

hammer - check


nail - check


head - BAM

Indeed!

[CCIP]

It's sad that it's like that in any field... you can name almost any "dream job" of 'ole days and I that is indeed by and large a dead dream to day. In the one that I grew up dreaming of getting into, teaching, things are also looking bad. I'm seeing so many good people give up, just crushed by the blood-sucking system that it is. I myself am on the verge of getting out... and it's really disheartening.

As someone who still has aviation fantasies, that is also rather disheartening. I guess someday the best I can hope for myself is being a weekend warrior like that, but it's a shame to see someone put in so much work and real talent, and walk away with nothing.

[Torplexed]

Yup. It's time to switch over to the 21st century career model. Do something really dumb or lame on YouTube...or better yet have your kid do something really dumb or lame and put it up on YouTube against their will. Then cash in on the inevitable publicity machine. Recent winners include Rebecca Black and Dental Visit Boy.

[Lord_magerius]

Same sort of problem I had, I was training to become a sound engineer , then things started training. Rather than having a basic degree and a good chance of getting a job in the field. I would have to have God knows how many qualifications and about a one in a million shot of landing a job afterwards. I decided to quit whilst I was ahead and not fork out the stupid sums on tuition fees.

[August]

I don't know what trade schools you're talking about but the one I teach at has to maintain a 76% placement rate or it looses it's accreditation and is no longer eligible for student loans. My course averages in the high 80's to low 90 percentile range.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by August

I don't know what trade schools you're talking about but the one I teach at has to maintain a 76% placement rate or it looses it's accreditation and is no longer eligible for student loans. My course averages in the high 80's to low 90 percentile range.

It's different in each profession I guess then.

The paramedic programs have to maintain a minimum registry PASS rate. Nobody cares about placement in this field.

Another problem with paramedic programs, the schools teach you how to pass the test, not how to be a good medic. It's a catch 22 though. I know a lot of these instructors, and they are damn good medics themselves. But if they taught how to be a good medic, nobody would pass the test so it'd be moot anyways. So they spend all their time focused on the book work, and not teaching real life techniques.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by August

I don't know what trade schools you're talking about but the one I teach at has to maintain a 76% placement rate or it looses it's accreditation and is no longer eligible for student loans. My course averages in the high 80's to low 90 percentile range.

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Spartan School of Aeronautics

Daniel Webster College Aviation Program

Southeastern OSU aviation studies program

just to name a few.

go talk to any of their "recruiting" guys and they will lay out a whole degree plan and tell you about all the 23 year old first officers making $150,000 a year flying boxes around at FedEx and any number of other stories about young people making tons of money in the aviation industry.

they pump up young impressionable 18-19-20 year old kids with this BS and they go into debt chasing this dream only to graduate, start paying against their loans, and have almost NO job prospects besides flight instruction.

then, the flight instruction industry suffers because if you lined 100 flight instructors against the wall... 90 of them are there just to get a quick 500-1000 hours and go elsewhere. they may or may not be decent teachers, they may or may not be interested in whether or not you get your license... and most of them are just wanting to go home with what little money they made, grab a seat at the kitchen table and total up their logbooks every night.

the other 10 are in it to teach you for the right reasons. they love to teach, they love to interact with students and would do anything to get you a license.

and the "job placement" of institutions such as the ones i have mentioned are a bit askew of reality - reason being is that they offer flight instruction positions to a fair number of recent graduates which boosts their "placement numbers" by a considerable amount i would imagine.

the reality of it is - i know more pilots who are working in the insurance, retail, food service, construction and petroleum businesses than i do who are working in aviation.

[nikimcbee]

sounds like me with teaching. I discovered the semiconductor industry, and I gave teaching the "bird". Now I can't imagime teaching. Bratty kids, letigeous(sp) parents; no way!

[nikimcbee]

almost NO job prospects

This is where I'm REALLY pissed at my alma matter, for mass-producing teachers in a field, where there is practically no jobs! (foreign lang, specifically Russian)

[Castout]

Aww sounds bad.

Same reason why anyone would want to become a US president

The pay is so small, the working hour is like forever and more, the stress is over the roof, the prestige and friends are short lived while the enemies are eternal.

The salvation comes from the seminars and selling books that come afterward

Well but military chiefs get a much better positions in the defense industry . . . .

[Armistead]

Geesh, I have painters that make 40K a year....

[gimpy117]

Thats why im getting MY A&P. Its too expensive to fly anymore. especially at western. My advisor TOLD me that if i didn't have a lot of money don't fly here.
it's $150,000 at Western Michigan University to get a your commercial. and then you make $16,000 starting. The dream is over. Cheap airfare has killed the pilots salary.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

Thats why im getting MY A&P. Its too expensive to fly anymore. especially at western. My advisor TOLD me that if i didn't have a lot of money don't fly here.
it's $150,000 at Western Michigan University to get a your commercial. and then you make $16,000 starting. The dream is over. Cheap airfare has killed the pilots salary.

good luck.

you should enjoy a fair amount of job security as the government mandates job security for A&P mechanics through the regulations.

every airplane is required to have specific maintenance done no matter how much or how little flying it does, as you are aware... theoretically, an airplane could sit in a hangar 90% of the year but would at least be required to have and annual inspection

however, nobody is required by regulations to be a passenger... thus the job of pilot is not "mandated".

[nikimcbee]

How saturated is the job market with pilots? It sounds like the same situation, but with social studies teachers. They are a dime a dozen.

...or you go work in a less desirable market. Be a bush pilot in Alaska.

[August]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

flight instruction positions to a fair number of recent graduates

I've heard of this practice in the big corporate schools. Nothing wrong with hiring a graduate but he'd need at least 15-20 years field experience to go with it before he would be considered for a teaching gig at our school.