"2Poor2Fly4Real" wrote in message om...
(apologies if this shows up in duplicate - I posted earlier but never
saw this appear)

Greetings!

I obtained my Private Pilot certificate in Jan, 1990, and enjoyed its
privileges for a couple of years following. (For the rest of the story,
see sig block) My career has been in IT, specifically in network
engineering, i.e. Cisco router management. This career provided a
comfortable living for my family until late January of this year, when
MCI cut my position (thank you Bernie Ebbers, thank you Scott Sullivan,
you !$&)%$@ weasels). The IT job market here in Columbus, OH, isn't all
that great, and for several compelling reasons, we do not wish to
relocate.

So....

snip

Seems a lot of people (including me) are in the same boat. We always
wanted to be a pilot for a career but the lure of high pay in the 90's
for the comptuer field made us put that dream on hold. Well, as the
bottom fell out for the tech field, we re-thought our life goals and
decided that money does not necessarly make one a happy person. I'm
also in a high paying computer position that requires very little work
and I ONLY work weekdays from 9 till 5. (I have to admit when I look
at the janitors in our building that work their butts off everyday for
a 1/10 what I make and it makes me feel guilty.)

So you wish to switch careers? Well, I'm also in the process of
changing but I'm going about it the smart way. I'm keeping my nice job
and using that money to pay off any loans and build up a nest egg for
when I make the switch. Remember, a low paying IS position will pay
more than a flight instructor or entry level pilot job. What a new
pilot needs to build a career is flight hours and there is a lot of
retired pilots as well as young kids that are used to making 10K - 15K
a year that want to fly.

As for how easy it will be for you to switch? I like to use the
flip-flop example. What if some pilot (that has only flow his entire
adult life) asked you how he could learn to be an IS professional?
Remember, they have never used a computer and need to learn the inner
workings of Windows (all OS's), Unix/Linux, networking, Hardware,
Software and still have ~20 - 25 years of work experience with
computers. I guess you would see the wealth of knowledge they need to
learn and realize that they have a long road ahead. However in this
flip-flop example you as a new commercial pilot will only making about
~$800 to at most $1200 a month if your very lucky. (I started my
first computer job with NO experience around $30K a year. In 5 years
I've easily doubled that.)

I don't want to crush your dream. In fact, I think you have a good
chance of making it if you, and more importantly your family, is
behind your goal. Hell, I'll fly with you.