Thinking of getting my Part 107 in San Diego

[thinking-of-droning]

I'm a retired engineer looking for a part time gig. 2 reasons: I want to stay busy and make some pocket money.

I'm thinking of getting my Part 107 via this local community college offering: Course Offerings

2 questions:
#1: Do these look like good courses?
#2: What do folks think about DroneBase? I see a lot of mixed reviews.

I'm leaning more towards mapping/inspections etc. That seems more interesting to me.

I'm in San Diego CA if it matters.

Thanks for any replies in advance

 

[dirkclod]

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[GFields]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum!

Dronebase, like any platform, advertises the client's budgeted amount. Usually on the low side. With Dronebase, you take it or leave it. On Droners.io I have often negotiated higher prices.

 

[thinking-of-droning]

Many thanks for the reply. I will look into droners.io. Are there other sites available to look for gig work once I have my Part 107?

 

[regfran]

in my area droners.io customersalways offers jobs at pathetically low fees. Attempts to get a bit more don’t work. There are plenty of people who will lowball to get the work, which is below the the real cost of doing it. Can you amortize your drone, computer, car, pay taxes, get some profit, pay health and retirement savings for $125 a job that takes 3-4 hours total time to do? If so, sign up.

 

[GFields]

in my area droners.io customersalways offers jobs at pathetically low fees. Attempts to get a bit more don’t work. There are plenty of people who will lowball to get the work, which is below the the real cost of doing it. Can you amortize your drone, computer, car, pay taxes, get some profit, pay health and retirement savings for $125 a job that takes 3-4 hours total time to do? If so, sign up.

You do not have to take the posted jobs.

As in any business, one must know what they need to make to cover overhead. But, just so you know, I have never seen a posted job that pays $125 that takes 3-4 hours. If you are calculating travel time then you must also calculate fuel costs. With that said, if you can't make money then don't bid on the job.

That is entirely up to you. The question posed was about {"Drone Base" and other platforms where drone jobs are posted.

 

[REStewart]

Regarding training either remotepilot101.com or pilotinstitute.com offer excellent courses at your leisure and both have an incredible pass rate.
I've done dozens of missions on dronebase and they are a solid outfit (but don't plan on getting rich). I too am retired and simply did not want to do the marketing needed to go on my own.

 

[cneedelman]

I'm a retired engineer looking for a part time gig. 2 reasons: I want to stay busy and make some pocket money.

I'm thinking of getting my Part 107 via this local community college offering: Course Offerings

2 questions:
#1: Do these look like good courses?
#2: What do folks think about DroneBase? I see a lot of mixed reviews.

I'm leaning more towards mapping/inspections etc. That seems more interesting to me.

I'm in San Diego CA if it matters.

Thanks for any replies in advance

I got my 107 by watching Youtube videos and taking practice tests. There's also an App by Prepware called Remote Pilot. It was $5 when I bought it a few years ago. Lot's of practice tests in the app that are very helpful..If you just Google part 107 practice tests there's so much good information already on line. As far as making money with your drone that's a bit harder.

 

[thinking-of-droning]

Thank you all. This gives me some much needed perspective.

One more question. I have a travel trailer and a 4wd pickup truck. I can travel for weeks at a time if necessary. Is anyone aware of longer gigs in remote locations that come up?

Thanks again.

 

[thinking-of-droning]

>> Can you amortize your drone, computer, car, pay taxes, get some profit, pay health and retirement savings for $125 a job that takes 3-4 hours total time to do?

I have pretty low overhead so I can afford to work on the cheaper end of the scale. But yeah, that's pretty thin and I would not take that gig.

 

[thinking-of-droning]

>> Regarding training either remotepilot101.com or pilotinstitute.com offer excellent courses at your leisure and both have an incredible pass rate.

I will give those a look as well. Thanks.

 

[thinking-of-droning]

>> There are plenty of people who will lowball to get the work, which is below the the real cost of doing it.

Why would anyone do this? Obviously it doesn't scale so what is the thinking process? Thanks.

 

[BigAl07]

>> Can you amortize your drone, computer, car, pay taxes, get some profit, pay health and retirement savings for $125 a job that takes 3-4 hours total time to do?

I have pretty low overhead so I can afford to work on the cheaper end of the scale. But yeah, that's pretty thin and I would not take that gig.

Good afternoon. With all due respect, simply working for pennies "because you have low overhead" severely dilutes the product and only serves to give customers a false idea of the "value" of the service you're offering. Why not make a "Fair Market Wage" and not dilute the service for everyone else.

>> There are plenty of people who will lowball to get the work, which is below the the real cost of doing it.

Why would anyone do this? Obviously it doesn't scale so what is the thinking process? Thanks.

Why? Because they don't "need" to make a Fair Market Wage? While you can find someone on just about every corner willing to work for "beer money, Golf Fees, or whatever hobby they need to support" that mentality only tends to screw the dedicated operator who is trying to keep food on the table and pay for their kid's braces doing the same type of work.

Earn the Fair Market Wage and if you honestly don't need to $$ donate it to help someone else less fortunate than you. That's a WIN-WI situation.