And that is why I am walking away too because I am better than this.
With me I see applicants/cadets with impressive qualifications coming in, saying that being a pilot is their dream etc etc etc... but if it is really a dream, then they would prove to be better than this and as you said work and pay for flight training and work somewhere else.
I am surprised people who have degrees don't see what they are getting themselves into, are you really to the point where this is your only option? This joke of a company and its cadet programme is just the easy route that people are taking, people that are not thinking of the long term and this is just going to get worse.
I think many people are just misled by the two prominent instagrammers propagandizing the greatness of Cafay Pathetic, people just don't know that their lives are not going to be like that of those captains on the old contract. Don't listen to people when they say upgrades are going to take 6 years or so, its going to take longer. You may think longer by 1-2 years is fine, but with that rubbish salary and the high cost of living in hk, how are you going to move out of your parents by the age of 35? How are you going to raise a family?
Imagine playing a flight simulator game on autopilot overnight, seem boring? that is your job for the good part of your first decade as a "pilot". This and I haven't even started talking about this CoS18. People who are better, that are willing to do anything for their dream are taking an alternative route that gets them to the rank of captains in those 6+ years whilst you gain nothing. It used to be great, when the batches were 12, now there are 15+ in the recent batch. 15+ that are going for the easy route, the easy route that will make them regret after 1 or 2 years when they get bored while they look up at people who are already senior first officers in other airlines with a family and good quality of life. Cathay used to be for the elite with the highest standards, now cafay is for the desperate individuals with no standards.
If you think you have standards, you won't go for this airline. Think again people, don't let the smart looking exterior of the CX A350 fool you and to people who passed the final interview, well done but most of the others passed it and will pass it with common sense. For people who have queries, my advice is to stay away.