What can airline pilots do if they are no longer in the position to fly, career-wise? I was having a discussion with a friend about the incident in the past days (4U 9525) and more specifically the what could be described as 'Taboo' of Psychological problems among pilots. We came across a few points:


They will only reluctantly admit that something is wrong, since risk losing their Medical (hence being 'grounded'). It will only be easier to loose and harder to get back I suspect after this event. 
At least for the younger bunch who might have difficulties they will have substantial debt from training that is difficult to pay off. Furthermore, they will have worked hard to get where they are.
Any airline that does suspect something will most probably not allow them near the cockpit again. Should anything happen the airline will be held to blame, since they did allow him to fly despite knowing of the problem.


This brings up the question: What can a pilot do, career-wise, if they feel they are unable to exercise the profession? It seems pretty cornered to me. Perhaps work in dispatch/ network control was the only one I figured their knowledge could come to use. Switching to the simulator I suspect might also be possible, but not for the younger individuals.
When I worked in the design department of an aircraft company, I had two types of coworkers: Those with and those without a pilot's license. You could easily spot the difference. In aircraft-related engineering decisions it was soon obvious. I mightily preferred to work with other pilots - they would have a much better grasp of "what looks about right" and not pursue hare-brained, outlandish ideas.

See it this way: All managers in car companies have a driver's license, so they have at least some contact with what their companies make. All higher managers where I worked had no pilot's license, and it made work outright awful. They were trained as beancounters, and that restricted their viewpoint. They were simply incapable of telling good engineering from bad.

If you have managed to get a CPL, adding an engineering degree on top is not hard. That is my advice to grounded pilots: Go to engineering school and enrich the workforce with your experience.