Best way to start a career in drones

[G.Beckman]

Hi all!

Was just wondering the best route to get into high paying drone work. I've been diving into all the online courses and I'm wondering if just getting a course to learn and pass the FAA 107 test is a good idea or if going to get an associates degree is the better way.
Im not sure the forums rules on links but these are the two things that I've been looking at personally.

Associate of Science Degree in Uncrewed and Autonomous Systems

erau.edu

Wings Program - DARTdrones

Become a professional drone pilot with a proven program. Go from no experience to ready to fly commercially with our three step Wings Program.

www.dartdrones.com

I just want to set myself up for the most opportunity without wasting a bunch of money as I am broke and 22
Thanks for helping!

 

[GFields]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

You will need the Part 107 regardless of the degree.
There is a lot of competition in Dallas and the nearby areas. I did some work in Dallas when I was located in Austin. What type of industry are you looking into? Residential Real Estate; Commercial Real Estate, Roof Inspections?

When I was in Austin, I did a lot of roof inspections for Allstate and Liberty Mutual Insurance companies. Here in Birmingham, I do primarily Commercial Real Estate

 

[G.Beckman]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

You will need the Part 107 regardless of the degree.
There is a lot of competition in Dallas and the nearby areas. I did some work in Dallas when I was located in Austin. What type of industry are you looking into? Residential Real Estate; Commercial Real Estate, Roof Inspections?

When I was in Austin, I did a lot of roof inspections for Allstate and Liberty Mutual Insurance companies. Here in Birmingham, I do primarily Commercial Real Estate

Hey man appreciate the reply! I do plan to get the 107 first if that's just going to a quick class for the cert itself or doing online courses with ERAU. I'm born and raised in Dallas and getting an apartment here so I cant really change that at the moment, but I do think I'm pretty interested in this. Honestly I don't have a preference in the type of work I just want a decent starting salary floor with a high upside if i put the work in. Real estate seems super interesting as well as all of the different jobs I've read about related to drones. I think what caught my eye the most was search and rescue as well as solar panel inspections and things of that nature, and honestly I'm not even apposed to doing multiple freelance jobs in all sorts of drone work. Right now I'm getting out of a rut and changing my life around after a rough few years so I'm really just trying to find a direction to go and then to put my head down and work hard. If you know the best route to take or any advice on how to carve a career out of this it would be really helpful!

 

[jaja6009]

Do both.

Start out by getting your Part 107. You can easily self study and pass if you are self motivated. Pilot Institute also offers a pretty good class that will refund some portion of the course cost if you fail.
You can always start out small with real estate and types of inspections.

I have an Associates in sUAS and the information given was worth the money. Besides getting my Part 107 I learned how to build a drone (which I still have and fly), learned electronics and soldering, learned deeper into not just drone regulations but also general aviation, in depth weather, remote sensing, developed a business plan, aerial videography and more.

I had access to drones I could never afford as well as software such as mapping software that I could not possibly afford by myself.

I learned how to write waivers and authorizations in FAA lingo and met a lot of different contacts from the drone industry.

The college also helped you to find a job as they were in contact with local industry. A guy in one of my classes got a gig at the local airport for drone testing and made decent money for a first time drone career and got to fly advanced drones for research.

The program allowed me to have the credentials, experience and knowledge to be made the drone coordinator a public safety drone program where I am in the background getting police, fire and beach patrol drones up and running in our program and ensuring we are compliant with everything.

Best part is I now teach in that program as an adjunct instructor.