Controversial discussion.
Very true, I have seen many very bad cadets that get nowadays released to the line here in Europe(as an example) forcing normal line captains being more of a linetraining daddy then a Captain. On the other hand I have seen US american "lease" pilots supporting some of my former companies(90's but as well early/mid 2000's) over the busy summer period(and to enable employees to have some holidays with their families during the summer season) . Some of this "Captains" had significant troubles flying complex SID's which are quiet common here in Europe(e.g. some of the "famous" french departures out of Orly or CDG, but as well in the UK(if they do not put you immediately on radar vectors), or for instance various airports(e.g. Innsbruck, Salzburg) in the alps. This was even more complicated when soley based on conventional navigation, nowadays everybody flies the magenta line, so buhu.
AFAIK departures in the US are mainly flown on (radar)headings(correct me if this is not the case anymore). If someone is not able to fly a complex SID in raw data it is barely legit to call them "best pilots"(which might apply for 90% of modern pilots to be honest).
In a nutshell. I have seen very experienced pilots being "crappy", on the other hand I had some excellent guys with only 300 hours. It all depends on the individual. Flying is not something someone can "learn"(even some P2F schools are trying to sell exactly this) - no, you need to have it in you(have it "in your ass" if you want). That is why modern aviation is in my eyes very unsafe - everyone tries, many fail, still a lot who are not supposed to make it into airliner cockpits.
The "old" system, especially here in Europe, was much better. Nearly every airline had it's own school and trained their future captains by themself, choose them from the beginning, trained them well, gave them years of experience on the left hand side along with Captains with significant experience(as well back then there where some on the LHS that did not belong there but the number was much lower). Now? Now they upgrade them with 3000 hours and a lot are just not ready.
Experience nowadays is replaced with VERY strong SOP's. The problem is - SOP cannot cover all possible problems one may experience in aviation.