It’s a bit of a lottery really. Depends when you go in and which wave you get to ride. I went in late, previous engineering career prior, didn’t start in GA until 35. The timing worked as I was able to access the hiring wave in the late 00s when I wanted to switch employers. The downside around going in later is you will need to work longer if you are starting a family later on.
It does hurt when you get these black swan events as you start to approach 60 when you finally are getting in some form of financial order….then bang. I do feel for FOs especially those at Virgin who have been waiting a long time and will still be waiting a while yet it seems. Certainly isn’t ideal working until 70 however as many know, the golden seat is needed to fund retirement.