so ive been flying recreationally for about 3 years now, got my part 107 last spring and have done maybe a dozen paid gigs on the side — mostly real estate stuff through a local agency that found me on thumbtack. the money has been decent for side work but im starting to wonder if theres actually a path here to doing this full time.

my day job is fine, nothing special, warehouse logistics. pays okay but its not exactly where i want to be in 10 years. i keep seeing ads for drone companies hiring pilots and i know some mapping and survey work pays really well, but honestly i dont know how to even break into that world. like do those companies expect you to already know the software? photogrammetry, pix4d, all that stuff? or do they train you?

anybody here actually made the leap to full time drone work? what did that look like for you? was it freelance first or did you go straight into an employed position somewhere?

yeah i made that jump about two years ago and honestly it was scarier in my head than in real life. what helped me was not going cold turkey — i spent about 6 months building up a client base while still working, just doing weekends and the occasional day off, mostly real estate and a couple construction progress shoots for a contractor i knew. by the time i quit i already had 3 recurring clients which made the landing way softer.

on the photogrammetry question — i would definitely learn at least the basics of whatever software your target employers use before applying. pix4d has free trials and there are solid youtube tutorials. it sounds more intimidating than it is. some survey companies will train you if they like you but having even surface level familiarity puts you miles ahead of a generic 107 holder with no processing experience. the mapping/survey side pays noticeably better than real estate in my experience but the work can be inconsistent depending on where you live.

following this because im kind of in the same boat lol. i did one paid gig and im already daydreaming about quitting my job which is probably not realistic but here we are