I think the people who'll bang on the most about the uselessness of trying to do it "the right way" are those that initially tried to but got bitten very badly.
I include myself on that list, I went for a fully funded first job with a regional op that was less than financially stable (but appeared to be due to the 2019 travel boom). I'd barely started when Covid quickly saw to it that I would be unemployed for the following 3 yrs and my company would cease to exist. Seems Aiming is another victim of "doing it the right way"..
Where did I end up after it all? Back at square 1 on a cadet course with colleagues who were nowhere near even starting their ATPL course at the time I graduated from mine.
My original ATPL colleagues who went the route I have now gone but did it right after we graduated are currently filling in applications for Emirates and Etihad. Meanwhile I'm playing catchup... the few hrs I did build at the defunct airline aren't even worth it from an employment perspective for those jobs so I'm restarting from scratch.
As a side note, is it not true that paid type ratings have been around for a very long time? .. i understand people paid BMI in the 80s for their first type rating, a few of whom now occupy a LHS at BA?