I've just seen a local instructor get a massive legup directly due to having done a type rating...and he'll be working for even less than his instructor salary for a fair while! It makes that route look awfully tempting and when you're sitting in your 30's or - heaven help us - 40's and still waiting for that lucky break, it's kinda hard to be noble and refuse to 'prostitute' in the hopes that it might improve the market and working conditions in the future. All the while watching younger guys getting jobs with the extra 10 years they have to offer.
As a community, pilots tend not to stick together and would easily step on eachother for a job if the need arose. It's a great idea that we should all unite and change the market, but while there are just a few out there willing to do whatever it takes too get ahead, we're screwed.
And even while writing this I'm asking myself the same old question - as a late starter in the industry, aren't I willing to do whatever it takes to grab the career that is disappearing with the mounting years?