Best of luck with the job hunting. If it is any consolation, working for a company or job where you aren’t happy is worse than being unemployed IMHO.
Have you considered going freelance? Having clients instead of bosses can make a huge difference in your well being. (Not by definition a positive one initially, as @Victork2 can attest). For me it made the difference between an unhappy bouncing between jobs to finding a good and satisfying niche in society.
It does take some getting used to for sure and you have to be able to accept it doesnt work sometimes and move on and change direction. But, whilst I’m definitely more tired and definitely more stressed out, I’m oddly happier with it.
It really does change things being able to sail your own ship. You are right @schurem
Hard to do as a pilot I would imagine. The good news for helicopter pilots, at least in North America, is that the demand has never been so good and the pool of applicants so small. Oz hopefully has a similar imbalance in the market.
Definitely possible for a fixed-wing ATP in the US these days.
Several of my friends that worked for my previous company have gone freelance as contract pilots. They’re flying Falcons, Gulfstreams and other heavy metal and have as much work as they want. It’s a different world than it was a few years ago.
They are all grossing quite a bit more than industry 135 captain pay, but they also have to pay taxes and deal with instability when the industry does slow down.
Talking out of my *** slightly because helicopters or a thing I have only recently tried to learn. In the fixed wing world I’ve freelanced for small jobs. I think in the helicopter world it’s still a bit different. Helicopters are harder, more dangerous and often single-pilot. So the perspective customer or employer needs to have some confidence that the pilot knows what he’s doing; and that is never clear from a resume or Flight Safety course background. On paper, many helicopter pilots work on short contracts which is a bit different than freelance. My friends (former instructors) who do it, starve. But they get great experience flying 407s around Manhattan and can parlay that into a real job later. It’s a very tough nut to crack which must help explain why so many choose to switch to fw instead.
A pretty good analogy for the difference in lifestyle between a helo and fixed wing pilot is how one old guy at a local airport used to tell it:
He flew UH-1’s in the Army and slept in tents out in the mud with the troops in the field.
When he switched to fixed wing (still Army), he spent nights in hotels, had weekends off and lived like a king. He always said he should have done it sooner!
I wanted to thanks for encouragement but you guys starting to scary me
anyways, thx for encouragement guys!
I think anything is in the cards. having clients instead of bosses, as you @schurem pointed out, is tempting oc.
but as I am also fw pilot, not yet cpl though, theres also this path probable.
I could agree that fw pilot life is more comfortable but helo pilot life is more adventurous not sure if I am that old for comfort already
After 11+ years in training, I have put in my official request to transfer. I will know here in about a week if I got the position I put in for or not. If I don’t get it, I’m not sure if I’ll be PNG at my current assignment or not. I do know that putting in my packet ruffled a lot of feathers, as I had dang near my entire chain of command come talk to me about it. It will be a very big change, and I will be back to being a real working police officer. Part of me is telling me that I’m an idiot for looking for a change with a hair over 36 months to retirement, and part of me is excited as hell at the prospect of the new job. Time will tell which was the right voice to listen to. Nothing ventured, nothing gained right?
As I am just discovering. You’re never too old and it is never too late to try something different.
The part of you that is excited as hell is telling the truth IMHO. Best of luck with whatever life throws at you my man
I really hope it goes well for you mate. Leap and fly! We are totally rooting for you
Been a hectic few months. Still doing 2 jobs.
But i feel the need to update on some actual good news
When i started my new venture with the repair van, i set myself some goals. Like a lot of people, i need something to focus on to keep motivated.
Now i wont talk about money or profits or anything crass, but the goals i set myself in the first month, i intended to reach it in a few months. To keep it realistic.
I hit it that month.
So i doubled it. Just to make it harder and take longer to achieve and keep my head in the game.
Did that the month after.
Now, i desperately dont want to seem braggy or anything but humble so please just take it as me finally celebrating some good news in my life.
Set another target.
Did it that month.
Doubled the target.
End of the month. Smashed it.
This month (november). Hit my target 15 days in. Made enough actual money to genuinely pay myself a wage. An actual living wage for someone working over 100 hours a week 110 last week. Its working! I’m finally FINALLY making it work.
I’m so proud of myself. I am smiling again. Totally and completely shattered tired obviously, my back is wrecked, I’m a zombie with zero time to enjoy it but I’m finally over the hump. I have savings again. I’m not in debt. The company owes exactly £2458 in credit card debt and I’m going to pay that off on Monday.
By the skin of my teeth and the ridiculous amount of work i do, I’m clawing my way out of the dark.
Customers are happy, phone doesnt stop ringing, reviews are excellent. People love the service. Love my work.
Again. I’m not bragging or pretending I’m a millionaire. Because I’m absolutely not. But I’m not gonna get ill for a week and miss a mortgage payment anymore. I got this.
Couple more months and I’m stopping the night work. Get Christmas out the way and ill hire someone to do it.
Best part.
Ive had a total and complete blockage on spending money on myself. So today i bought myself a big present to say well done. A week or so ago i bought a model An225 for my office and today I bought a Heng Long Challenger 2 pro edition remote control main battle tank.
Its coming in the post next week and ive told the wife to wrap it up as a Christmas present for me. I bought obi a cheaper one as well (hes got an M1a2) so we can play tanks together.
Good news at last. Thanks for listening.
Awesome news!!
Well done!
I’m happy that you’re happy!
I absolutely love reading this!
With how hard you have been working for the past years, and what a kind person you are, you deserve this a hundred times over!
You humble gentle polite Brit, you F-ing ACE’d it!
Really good to see your stress levels go down and that you have a plan for working less in the short term. I hope you manage to hire a good colleague to help you out!
You will be such a wonderful boss. I vividly remember your outrage about how a dispatcher treated your fellow truckers of Polish descent.
Thanks guys. It feels great to share some genuinely wonderful news for a change.
Me and obi had an hour long discussion about tank warfare and our tactics for the war we are going to fight in the garden when our new tanks arrive. Feels good to be able to treat myself and him. There is going to be plastic 6mm ball bearing hell in that garden.
Well done mate, you thoroughly deserve that pat on your back.
And don’t worry about having a brag. If I had just achieved what you have I would be crowing from the rooftops
Thanks @Harry_Bumcrack
So @schurem I’m all updated and ready to rock tomorrow from 7ish onwards. The cs gas has arrived to subdue the children and the cattle prod is charged
I can host if its easier for you or we can do the usual fight club. Doesn’t matter either way.
I dont know how to do the mudspike time dilation effect for world wide time coordination,
Shall i post in the fight club thread to stop derailing this one.
@Discobot how do you do the time sync thing that makes the time posted match the local time
Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help
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This is why my alexa swears and I’m not allowed a parrot