If you can, I'd recommend getting such a job now. After you have a bird, you likely won't be able to bring it to a pet store. There's a lot of going in and out, a lot of exposure to things, customers are going to want to handle it and everyone will want to buy YOUR bird.
But right now, such a job is a GREAT idea. It will answer a lot of your questions about birds and let you spend hours and hours a day with them.
One of my very first jobs was with a parrot breeder. I learned a LOT, hand fed lots of babies, was around lots of different species and learned hands-on which are my faves.
And to this day, I don't yet own one, although one day I'll get a nice pyrrhura species conure. I learned that while I adore them, most species are WAY more work than I wanted at that point of my life (this was pre-kids and just starting out - I wanted to travel, and I have!) and the noise level for most species wasn't something I wanted on a constant basis. But that once my kids are a bit bigger, one of the pyrrhuras will be perfect.So yes, definitely get a job working with them. Join any parrot clubs you can find (http://www.boaf.com/ )
And yes, definitely get a nice hand-fed cockatiel from a good breeder as soon as you can. No, it will never be able to share a cage with a large parrot, but it will certainly fill your longing for now (which can keep you from rushing in to anything), be a lovely companion for the next 10 - 18 years and teach you a lot. While I've never had a large parrot, I have had several cockatiels and many budgies over the years and been very, very happy with them
