Woohoo another one about pay

[Red-Rider]

Not your usual "I'm not paid enough" speil, currently a poor and stupid apprentice, just wondering about long term pay/ goals. Little over a year until I can get my license, thought I would ask some experienced guys about where the future is going. What courses and endorsements are going to be useless or valuable once im licensed? Are mediums and heavies a fools game or a goldmine in the coming years? Even I can see a-star courses are a kind of golden ticket though. What kind of pay should I expect for being inexperienced and freshly licensed and when I first get some endorsements?

For some reason everyone I ask in person acts like their pay is top secret info and even though I can barely afford rent, I'm still paid too much. Personally I think I would like to go medium or heavy from the few machines i've worked on so far. SO, any and all knowledge/experience is welcome.

[Dualfadec]

Figure out what you want from life and go from there. There is quite probably an AME job suited for almost any lifestyle imaginable.

If it's a stable job with a small company in the same place and home each night that you are after, don't get into mediums. If you are happy to spend more time away from home, usually for more money (and more work), then mediums may be for you. There are lots of other considerations too, heavy maintenance, offshore, etc.

Talk to as many different engineers as possible and see if any have a lifestyle that resonates with you, remembering that chasing a 212 around Western Canada each summer will get old pretty quickly.

As for pay, without knowing what you're working on and where, it's a guessing game. I remember being an apprentice and thinking I wasn't paid enough but now I realize that I was probably pretty dumb and cost the company a lot of time and money to train.

It's a good career, hopefully you treat it with the respect that it deserves and that you can enjoy the rewards that it offers.

[Red-Rider]

52 minutes ago, Dualfadec said:

Figure out what you want from life and go from there. There is quite probably an AME job suited for almost any lifestyle imaginable.

If it's a stable job with a small company in the same place and home each night that you are after, don't get into mediums. If you are happy to spend more time away from home, usually for more money (and more work), then mediums may be for you. There are lots of other considerations too, heavy maintenance, offshore, etc.

Talk to as many different engineers as possible and see if any have a lifestyle that resonates with you, remembering that chasing a 212 around Western Canada each summer will get old pretty quickly.

As for pay, without knowing what you're working on and where, it's a guessing game. I remember being an apprentice and thinking I wasn't paid enough but now I realize that I was probably pretty dumb and cost the company a lot of time and money to train.

It's a good career, hopefully you treat it with the respect that it deserves and that you can enjoy the rewards that it offers.

Thanks for the reply, being young and new to the industry I enjoy the hard work and following machines around but I can see the appeal of standard schedule hangar work later in life. Shift work seems best suited for my lifestyle in the forseeable future.

I am also very aware that a company has to put alot of time and money into an apprentice for very little short term rewards. (Only to hope it pays off longterm) I'm not so much complaining about pay in the usual regard, actually I make a fair amount for my position, moreso im just talking about the economy in general and how hard it is to survive without a partner or family with the state of affairs currently.

I really do love aviation, but it can be fickle beast at times.

[Superwrench]

Figure out what type of work you enjoy (logging, fires,drill camp, MRO, base, etc) and what aircraft you enjoy working on.  Then find a company with low turn over that does that work and has those aircraft, and try and get hired.  They probably pay well for the work you are doing, have experienced crew to learn from, and you will enjoy what you are doing.  Don't worry about chasing money and endorsements as someone always offers you more.  Be somewhere you want to be, and enjoy this industry.

Just my two cents

[Icewind]

Don't think that you should (or can) plan out your life at this stage.  Listen to the advice already given but set some short and medium term goals.  Chasing around with a medium or other remote field work will give you the varied experience that can only be got that way.  There are even Canadian companies working internationally.  It is easier to do all of that early in a career.  Courses & endorsements mean a lot but so does varied experience and problem solving.

[CM119]

We all travel, right now you need to get your license (M1 and M2) and any training your employer is willing to send you on.  Be wary of training bonds as they will almost certainly leverage you for the duration.  If shift work is your goal do you mean a rotation away from home or actual home every night shift work.  Because those jobs in vtol world are very few and far between and generally don’t pay much.  
As for the future of the industry in Canada  and the industry in the coming years, it’s not as bright as it was when I got in it many many many years ago.  I work in the states mostly now and the work is much different (8-4 kinda job and paid hourly, benefits pension etc). You may want to look south of the border if you want to be home more often and paid more.  My two cents

[Red-Rider]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think i'll just work to a point where I have the experience and knowledge to choose where i'd like to go in a few years. There sure is alot to consider for a career and it's a bit early to worry about that now. Felt like 4 years of school and apprenticeship would take forever but man does time fly, pretty soon i'll be licensed, thats not nerve wracking at all 😬. Maybe i'll meet some of the folks on the forums here in the field.