It is not wrong to get life experience, everything is a learning experience after all. On the other hand, getting into a (preferrably partly sponsored) training program at 18, on the line by 20, small management job by 22, captain by 25, training by 26 is not only lucrative, but also gets you started early on the experience ladder which is quite important to secure a job even in a downturn.
For the next few years growth seems to be all airlines are planning for, already the training queue is stuttering for lack of applicants. Obviously, if the next pandemic hits (remember, there was one 1918 and the next in 2020), all bets are out of the window, but as we have seen, the jump back is faster than imagined.