Starting out

romanrich0124 · Feb 9, 2021

My name's Roman Rich. I'm 20 years old and I'm currently in Camden County College majoring in computer science A.S. (not sure if I'll go for my bachelor's or master's yet, but either or). I just completed my Aeronautical Knowledge Test to get my part 107 license on 2/6/2021). I'm brand new to this industry and have a big question:

What now?

Right now I'm looking at the DJI Mini 2 to start out with. I'm interested in any type of career path. Whether it's home inspections, wedding photography, military related careers, anything and everything seems interesting to me (wherever the big bucks are)!

The only thing I've done since completing the test was looking at different drones to start out with and I applied to actually get my part 107 license online after completing the test. I've done very light research on the jobs available near me (Haddon Heights, NJ).

I also talked to my parents since I was laid off from my job recently on my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and I'm worried since I have a $350 car payment every month and have no source of income right now. I'm currently waiting on unemployment as I type this (I'm redialing them over and over), but I still have nothing. They suggested that I join various forums to get some answers and to possibly even meet up with people to see how they conduct their operations (inspections, wedding photography, etc.).

I don't want to go into this industry as a hobby. I want this as a profession. I want to be able to move up the ranks and "perfect my craft" as my step dad said.

So what's my next step? Any and all help is appreciated greatly.

Thank you so much.

Roman Rich
[email protected]
856-981-2722

aerialimagery · Feb 9, 2021

I have a son doing extremely well because of an advanced computer science degree. I have had some very good years doing aerial photography, but none nearly as good as he is doing in his first year with a well-known big tech company. (Note, I did well during an era of using airplanes and helicopters as my platform and not so well using a drone, since competition has increased exponentially). Why not put your all in CS or have you lost interest in that? Of course it's not just about money. For me, being in my own business meant freedom and doing something I liked to do. (How come a 20 year old has a $350 car payment?)

romanrich0124 · Feb 9, 2021

aerialimagery said:
I have a son making a bazillion dollars because of an advanced computer science degree. I have had some very good years doing aerial photography, but none nearly as good as he is doing in his first year with a well-known big tech company. (Note, I did well during an era of using airplanes and helicopters as my platform and not so well using a drone, since competition has increased exponentially). Why not put your all in CS or have you lost interest in that? Of course it's not just about money. For me, being in my own business meant freedom and doing something I liked to do. (How come a 20 year old has a $350 car payment?)

I wouldn't say I lost interest completely in it. I just don't want an office type of job. I'd rather go out and do things. Sure, I may make more in an office setting, but I know I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much. I'd love to start my own business, but I'd think I'd need some experience first. I'm just not sure where/how to start.

BigAl07 · Feb 9, 2021

WELCOME to the forum

MapMaker53 · Feb 9, 2021

Unfortunately, you are putting the cart before the horse. Your first mistake was in taking a $160 exam without any idea of what the employment or training on the job opportunities exist in your area. I think your second mistake would be to shift focus from your computer science degree to a drone operator career, because you will need a very solid, well paying, career to fall back on should your dream of developing a drone service business for yourself go bust. I wish you luck, but you will have to be the one who spends a lot of your time seeking paid opportunities and developing a serious business plan based on your local market, competition, and personal finances. Have you even flown a drone yet as a hobbyist in order to develop some flying skills? If you are looking for the "big bucks" when it comes to drone flying, please let us all know when you find that type of job. Sorry to burst your bubble. Just my opinion.

dirkclod · Feb 9, 2021

Welcome to CDP .
Look around and find what your interest is and let it rip . Have any question's feel free to ask any staff
in a message concerning the forum and glad you have joined .
Enjoy and be safe .

R.Perry · Feb 9, 2021

Back in the stone age when I was in college I had no idea what wanted to do. If you like things that fly, the Navy and Airforce can open some great doors for you. Lot of guys sitting in Las Vegas blowing things up in middle east with drones.
Find what you love to do, it's not just about the big bucks but being happy and content at what you are doing.
There is lots of information on this forum about drone business and in the most part it isn't all that lucrative.

kabonski · Feb 9, 2021

Depending on what industry you want to target you should certainly do some research on it and try to keep up with the current technology and trends. Subscribe to some free publications like sUAS news or xyHt magazine if you are more into mapping or modeling. For real estate I would go to YouTube to see what shots agents like.

Definitely practice flying and mastering different types of shots, flying and controlling the camera at the same time, orbiting, and master all the camera settings. No matter what industry you go toward you will need to know how to manually fly and adjust settings on the fly.

Once you are comfortable flying you could start off by advertising on Craigslist or by cold calling real estate places. You could try and become a pilot for places like Dronevideos.com who will send out real estate jobs in your area that you can take. If mapping is your thing you could look into Hivemapper.com where they pay you to help create maps.

If you start selling your services you should make sure you are insured as well. An easy way is to use a service like Verifly where you pay per flight instead of paying a whole years worth of insurance.

Best of luck to you and fly safe!!

Mavikhan · Feb 10, 2021

WELCOME ABOARD!

jnowell · Feb 10, 2021

Welcome, I'm a 50-year-old who had the same dream and posted a similar thread earlier this week. Then I noticed that every drone forum on the internet is peppered with new guys just like you and me. There are often two or 3 newbies in a day with this same question (it was me 3 days ago, lol). The best piece of advice I have been given is to read and research before you buy a drone or start putting your business together. Make sure there is an industry in need in your area, figure out how you can help them with your drone, then find a drone for that purpose and model a business around it. 2nd best was to follow what you already know and try to fit drones into an industry you are already well-versed in. Being still in college, you may not have any industry proficiencies yet, or maybe you do.

I think the uses for drones are still just being realized, the only way I see to get "big bucks" would be to find a way drones could help an industry that isn't already being helped, and then own it.

JimD · Feb 13, 2021

jnowell said:
Welcome, I'm a 50-year-old who had the same dream and posted a similar thread earlier this week. Then I noticed that every drone forum on the internet is peppered with new guys just like you and me. There are often two or 3 newbies in a day with this same question (it was me 3 days ago, lol). The best piece of advice I have been given is to read and research before you buy a drone or start putting your business together. Make sure there is an industry in need in your area, figure out how you can help them with your drone, then find a drone for that purpose and model a business around it. 2nd best was to follow what you already know and try to fit drones into an industry you are already well-versed in. Being still in college, you may not have any industry proficiencies yet, or maybe you do.

I think the uses for drones are still just being realized, the only way I see to get "big bucks" would be to find a way drones could help an industry that isn't already being helped, and then own it.

romanrich0124 said:
My name's Roman Rich. I'm 20 years old and I'm currently in Camden County College majoring in computer science A.S. (not sure if I'll go for my bachelor's or master's yet, but either or). I just completed my Aeronautical Knowledge Test to get my part 107 license on 2/6/2021). I'm brand new to this industry and have a big question:

What now?

Right now I'm looking at the DJI Mini 2 to start out with. I'm interested in any type of career path. Whether it's home inspections, wedding photography, military related careers, anything and everything seems interesting to me (wherever the big bucks are)!

The only thing I've done since completing the test was looking at different drones to start out with and I applied to actually get my part 107 license online after completing the test. I've done very light research on the jobs available near me (Haddon Heights, NJ).

I also talked to my parents since I was laid off from my job recently on my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and I'm worried since I have a $350 car payment every month and have no source of income right now. I'm currently waiting on unemployment as I type this (I'm redialing them over and over), but I still have nothing. They suggested that I join various forums to get some answers and to possibly even meet up with people to see how they conduct their operations (inspections, wedding photography, etc.).

I don't want to go into this industry as a hobby. I want this as a profession. I want to be able to move up the ranks and "perfect my craft" as my step dad said.

So what's my next step? Any and all help is appreciated greatly.

Thank you so much.

Roman Rich
[email protected]
856-981-2722

The market is flooded with guys just like you.
For one thing there aren’t enough jobs for all those wanting them. As has been stated it’s uncountable how many people coming here with the same story.
Do you wanna start off as an entry-level Coder At $70-$80,000 per year or maybe if you’re lucky make 10,000 a year as a drone pilot? And that’s just entry leve
In the end making good money solves everything.

Tech companies will love and appreciate your skills because they need them. Drone companies could care less.

What’s more if you were interested in computer science you’re going to find drone jobs after the initial excitement wears off horribly boring.

It doesn’t sound like you’re actually a drone enthusiast either. Well you need to be because there’s a lot of issues that need to be addressed to do drone jobs.

Vic Moss · Feb 13, 2021

I went from a dual Physics/English degree path at an Ivy League College to an art degree (in class one day it suddenly occurred to me that I'd have to do this for a living if I finished the degree). So not being 100% sure isn't a bad thing. I enjoyed the learning aspect of physics and English, but I realized I probably wouldn't enjoy the actual doing aspect.

As far as drones for a living, you need to find what you're good at, enjoy doing, or can already bring to the table. Getting your 107 is just the beginning. Get the skill set to use it in one of the verticals is an entirely different thing.

But if you have the drive and patience to learn that vertical, you'll do fine. But don't rely on the drone to make a living at first.

Ajkm · Feb 13, 2021

Imho, given your age and experience, there are really only two options at this point: find a company that will hire (and teach) you to fly a drone or keep flying as a hobby.

You will need significant hours of flight experience (100-200+) to be taken seriously as a professional pilot. Inspections, if you want to use that word, usually require professional certification (don't use the word "inspection" or "survey" without those professional qualifications or you'll get yourself into all sorts of hot water and insurance issues). Real estate is flooded with drone pilots - and these days, most real estate agents have learned to fly drones for themselves, so rarely need to hire anyone. The same goes for wedding photographers.

There are some areas for "big bucks", but they are often in the film industry or commercial mapping/inspection sphere - both of which will require further study, possible qualifications, and most definitely significant flight experience.

Joining the military may be an idea, but you won't be paid to fly a drone for several years as far as I know.

Sorry to burst the bubble of enthusiasm, but, in the long run, being told the truth from the outset will enable you to make informed decisions about your future.

Oh, and the small DJI drones won't cut it in the professional environment at all - either from the point of view of their capabilities, or from the customer's perspective (where I've had to take an overachieving drone to a job that could have been done with an M2P, because the client wasn't impressed with only seeing a small foldable drone - even though it was the best option for the job requirements).

R.Perry · Feb 13, 2021

Ajkm is partially correct about the military. If you go through flight school in the Navy or Airforce you will be flying. If you are the type of person that would do well in computer science I believe you would find aviation very boring in a very short period of time.
Think of sitting in a seat (pilots) for countless hours with nothing to do except watch the panel, shoot the bull with the other pilot, and praying you can keep your situational awareness and not fall asleep.
Now if you do like adrenalin rushes go Navy and do some night carrier landing in rough weather, but beyond that it is a very boring profession.

Ajkm · Feb 13, 2021

My understanding is also that the drone pilots are the UAV version of Top Gun, so only the absolute highest performing pilots the Forces have.

On a side note, the aviation profession is taken extremely seriously indeed - there is absolutely nothing as cavalier as "sitting in Las Vegas blowing things up in [the] Middle East with drones." That comment entirely omits the fact that, in many cases, the "things" blown up, are people about which we should care a great deal more than it appears that some do. Warfare is not for the faint of heart.

R.Perry · Feb 13, 2021

Well if you are a military combat pilot, that is what you do. I was involved in ASW, (anti submarine warfare). Fortunately never had to sink a sub other than in war games, however I would have in a heartbeat with no reservations if the need had risen. If you are going to worry about the people on the other side, the military isn't for you. Don't miss understand me, that isn't a lack of compassion for others, it is a self defense mental mindset.

No, Top Gun is the Navy's fighter pilots advance training. I read an article about the Air Force predator pilots, at first they were grabbing fighter pilots to fly them, didn't work out too well. Can't fly a predator like a fighter, I guess they had a lot of problems. Personally I think the military would take the guys that graduated at the bottom of the class as drone pilots, but I don't know how one is selected for those positions today.

Now you want to talk about boredom, think of flying a predator eight hours a day sitting in some box in Nevada where most of your time is just observing and occasionally getting to launch a hellfire.