Hello. I’m 33 this month and have decided to look into following my passion and love for aviation instead of continuing my current career which I don’t enjoy.
My holdup on taking the jump is my age and uncertainty about the job market. Disregarding the virus and mess it’s caused, has anyone been in the same situation? I have a steady and well compensated career and need to make sure this is a good fit as I must consider my wife and daughter in this decision in order to provide for them
Welcome Kyle. It sounds like you are thinking of the correct things, I am 36, and will be starting ATP in July. What it came down to with my wife and myself was, how detrimental would it be for me to have no income for a year, vs how much I wanted to change careers. I was tired of flying a desk making average to above average income, and my wife makes enough money that we can live off of her income alone for at least a year. So I decided to chase a dream now rather then wait and wish I had. I hope this helps, but only you know all of the intricacies of your personal situation and if you think you could make it work.
We all have our opinions when it comes to the job market after COVID (which you’ll see in the other threads), however I will speak to your concern regarding age.
I began the program last month at the age of 34, and was surprised to see so many other students that are in my age group. We even have a guy in his mid 40’s who traded in his lifelong career and is currently working on his Instrument rating, which could give him a +20 year airline career. For me, it came down to how passionate I really am about aviation, because regardless of how old I’ve grown my desire and love for flight has not subsided. I traded in a lucrative career as a grocery executive prior to coming to ATP, an industry which is currently booming and offers a lot of job security. There’s no “guarantee” that ill have an airline job or even graduate from ATP for that matter, but I made my decision based on my belief that the demand for air travel will recover and most importantly what will bring me the most happiness career wise.
One trend that I’ve seen amongst us “older” students is that many of us are trading in good careers in order to pursue our dreams. In the end, it’s a personal decision, but the advice that I’ve always given is to follow your dreams if given the opportunity to.
You are nowhere near too old, you could still have a lengthy and rewarding career ahead of you. That being said, you aren’t exactly on the young side either, so if this is something you are going to do, you need to get on it as soon as possible and find a flight school that can help you train expeditiously and efficiently.