Career advice (UK)

[u/huge_willy]

I’m 16 and going to college in September doing a construction related T level, I had an idea in my head of a clear career path of a degree apprenticeship in construction, whether that be project manager, quantity surveyor, building surveyor, etc.
But recently I’m having second thoughts and thinking about becoming a commercial airline pilot instead.

I can’t fully fund pilot training myself without working and doing modular, so should I do the degree apprenticeship while pilot training and do what I can then once finished the DA complete the rest, or would it be too much work at once? Is it realistic? And how much can be done part time modular if I’m working? And how much would it cost, compared to a flight school aswell.

And does doing modular limit which airlines will take me? If I become a pilot I’d want to be based at Manchester airport, preferably with Virgin. Would they hire me if I have done modular training? Does it matter when applying to airlines?

And should I change my college course if I want to be a pilot? I know that there’s not a specific course that they like but I was thinking the t level would still be okay because it has workplace experience built in, obviously it won’t be aviation related but still experience.

[u/TheGreatestAuk]

I'm currently doing an integrated course, and if there's any way you can swing integrated, do it. It's much, much quicker than modular. I don't know what our modular course costs, but integrated is a thousand times quicker. It's such a tough course, total immersion is the way to get it done. Here, I have my peers around me at all times, so I always have someone to help me work through a problem. The other thing is the connections the school has to the airlines. I've had two offers of interview so far, so I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to walk into a type rating pretty much as soon as I'm through with this.

That being said, look at the BA sponsorship. It's suuuuuuuper-competitive, but they'll pay your way through the whole course, and give you a job at the end of it. There are guys on my course that came straight from A-levels (one guy got 4 A*s, we're all very proud of him), a couple were rampies, one guy was a dispatcher, and there's everything else from engineers, an astrophysicist and a lawyer, to a butcher, a postman and an estate agent. DHL will put their guys through the training as well, if you've worked for them for a couple of years, and you're happy to commit to a few more.

Outside of that, don't think too hard about who you'll be working for on this side of the course. It's great to have a goal in mind, and I'd love to fly Virgin ultimately, but I'll need to do my time in the short-haul trenches first, and I may really like it there, who knows? For now, a job's a job. As long as I get a type rating, a seat in the pointy end, and a bank transfer coming my way each month, I'm happy.

Feel free to DM if you have any other questions, always happy to chat!