been flying recreationally for a few years and just got my 107 a couple months ago. i work in IT right now and im honestly pretty burned out on it. a coworker mentioned that drone inspection work is a growing field and now i cant stop thinking about it as a potential exit.

i know that probably sounds naive and like ive watched too many youtube videos about it, but i genuinely do enjoy flying and im decent at it. i just dont know if thats enough to build something real on or if the barrier to entry for the serious inspection stuff — like cell towers, wind turbines, that kind of thing — is way higher than i think it is.

do you need additional certifications beyond 107? i keep seeing mention of thermography certs for solar and roofing inspections but idk if thats actually required or just a nice to have. anyone whos done this for real please talk me out of it or into it because im genuinely on the fence here

the thermography cert thing is real — for solar farm inspections especially clients will often ask if you have a Level 1 thermography certification because they want to know you can actually interpret the thermal data and not just fly a camera over panels. its not cheap to get but its also not insane, there are online courses and some weekend in-person options. definitely not required for every type of inspection job but it opens specific doors that pay pretty well.

cell tower work is a different beast, some companies require you to be a certified tower climber even if youre flying a drone and not physically climbing, because of the site safety requirements. that was news to me when i looked into it. wind turbines can be similar depending on the client. i'd say start with roofing and maybe commercial solar if you can get the thermal cert, its a more accessible entry point and you can build a portfolio before going after the more specialized stuff.

and no its not naive to want to make the transition, plenty of people do it, it just usually takes longer than you expect to replace a full salary so having a runway matters a lot.

i did exactly this transition about three years ago, came from a totally differnt background (finance weirdly) and the IT skills you have are actually more useful than you'd think because a lot of inspection work involves data deliverables and clients appreciate someone who can handle that side without hand-holding. the flying is almost the easy part after a while honestly.