I got my start as a kid, I was lucky to have a father who's an EE and interested in computers. By the end of high school I was working full-time in a start-up. This grew exponentially in 4 years and we sold just before the bust in 2001. During much of this period I was also in school full-time for SW-Eng. Studying and working in the field 50+ hours a week was very taxing but rewarding. I received a stock pay-out big-enough to afford to small downpayment on a house and to take flying lessons.

I had a brief stint as a well paid consultant before being offered full time work with the government. I enjoy the people but felt I was always solving the same problem. Collect data, insert it into a db and built tools to work with it. Wash - rinse - repeat.

To keep me sane I had learned to fly small airplanes and found myself teaching and craving for more challenges. Since childhood the dream had always been for me to fly helicopters. In 2006 I took a 12-month LOA from my permanent gov job and went to college to learn to fly helicopters.

I can't tell you how much fun it was/is!!!! Being outside, seeing the world from above everyday, and knowing that each flight would present new challenges.

After I got my license I was extremely fortunate to get a job flying aircraft (airplanes and helicopters) with special sensors on board at very low level 200-400' above ground collecting geophysical science data (i.e. magnetic field, pull of gravity, background radiation, induced electromagnetic response). The work was literally on every continent and I spent the next 7 years flying in some amazing places, including (favs): Papua New Guinea, Greenland, North West Territories and BC (Canada) and several countries in central/south America and the west/east coasts of Africa.

I realised after a while that being away so much while a blessing was also a curse. My friends were getting married, having kids, getting divorced and generally moving up the life ladder, I was living in hotels for 2 months at a time in random places (often 2nd and 3rd world countries) and then spending a couple weeks at home before going off to do it again.

In 2013 I was offered a job flying a larger multi-engine helicopter for a provincial air ambulance service in a major city. This offers the best of both worlds - I get to fly 14 days in a 28 day schedule and I am almost always home after my shift. Even better the way the schedule falls I have 10 weeks off a year and 14 days off in a 28 day schedule. With this extra time I've actually returned to a developer/prototyper type role for my employer and get to work on projects that I propose that have the potential to make my flying job better and easier.

It was a serious kick in the butt to go from making nearly 100K in 2006 to 32K in 2008, but after a few years I've worked my way back up and am feeling better balanced for it. There are only a few things I'd do differently (mostly I would have prioritise relationships more and stopped travelling a couple of years earlier than I did).

If your dream is to fly, it's a very personally rewarding choice, but career wise, especially in the U.S. the money is poor. Also I wouldn't be surprised to see drone tech starting to replace pilots 15 years from now or even earlier.