bit of a rambling post but bear with me. i've been in IT for about 12 years and honestly im just kind of burned out on it. got into drones as a hobby a few years back and somewhere along the way it stopped being just a hobby, i started taking it more seriously, did my part 107, started doing some small jobs here and there. inspections, a couple of weddings, some mapping stuff for a construction company a friend connected me with.

the mapping and inspection side of things is what really interests me because it feels more technical and i think my IT background might actually transfer in useful ways — like i get data and software and i dont mind learning new platforms. been messing around with Pix4D a bit and looking at thermal imaging work.

anyway the actual question i guess is — if you made the leap to doing this full time, how long did you kind of run both things in parallel before you felt stable enough to quit the day job. and were there specific types of work that actually provided consistent income vs stuff that was always feast or famine

I did almost exactly what you're describing, ran my drone work alongside my regular job for just under two years before i felt like it made sense to make the jump. and even then it was nervewracking. the honest answer is that for me the stabilizing factor was landing a handful of recurring clients rather than one-off jobs. i do quarterly roof and facade inspections for a property management company and that alone gives me a predictable chunk of income every three months which is a lot easier to plan around than random real estate shoots.

the mapping and inspection path you're describing is solid and your IT background is genuinely useful — especially if you get into deliverables that involve actual data processing and reporting rather than just flying. companies want someone who can hand them something useful not just a folder of images. look into whether there are any engineering firms or utility companies near you that might need that kind of work, that whole sector tends to have actual budgets unlike the real estate side which can be price-sensitive

took me almost a full year of doing both before the drone income was anything to actually rely on. second year it started to feel real. third year i quit. everyones timeline is different but i wouldnt rush it

the feast or famine thing is so real, i cant stress that enough. events and real estate work especially, it just completely dies in winter in most places and if you havent planned for that it can get rough pretty fast. the more technical inspection and mapping stuff does seem to be more consistent from what ive seen but i dont have personal experience with that side of it yet. your IT background honestly sounds like it would be a real advantage there though, most of the people doing that kind of work seem to come from either survey/engineering backgrounds or just drone hobbyists who figured it out — someone who actually understands the data side is probably more useful than either of those in some situations