kind of a weird situation and not sure where else to ask. a construction company i did a few jobs for over the summer reached out and basically offered me a staff position, like a W2 job, as their in-house drone operator. they do commercial and industrial builds, big stuff. the pay is decent, not amazing, somewhere in the low 60s to start which in my area is livable but not exactly killing it.

the thing is i really liked the idea of freelancing and building my own thing but honestly ive only been at it for like 8 months and client acquisition is exhausting and inconsistent. part of me thinks taking this could be a great way to get real professional hours and experience flying job sites every day, learn the inspection side of things, and then maybe go back to freelancing in a few years with actual credentials. the other part of me worries ill get pigeonholed doing the same flight paths over and over and it wont really develop my skills in a useful direction.

i dont know. has anyone been in a similar situation or have thoughts on whether in-house positions are actually good for career development or kind of a dead end

take it. seriously eight months in is still pretty early to be betting on freelance income and having a company behind you changes everything - insurance, equipment, liability all covered, plus you'll fly more in a month than most freelancers do in a year on job sites that size. i did three years at an engineering firm before going back out on my own and the contacts i made and the experience flying actual inspection work rather than real estate shoots was worth way more than what id have figured out grinding away solo. you can always freelance later and you'll be way better positioned to do it

i mean the steady paycheck thing is not nothing. my brother in law does solar panel inspections for a utility company, full time gig, and yeah its not the most glamorous flying but he said once he got into the thermal imaging side of it the work got a lot more interesting and the pay went up. might depend on whether this construction company is open to you expanding what you do there or if they just want someone to fly the same grid pattern every week forever - probably worth asking them about that before you commit