Boltzman,
Sorry for the delay in posting, sounds as though you have a sensible outlook on things. I agree with many of your sentiments that and it seems you share the same frustrations as me with the UK aerospace industry.
I often see aero grads posting on here intending to do pilot training thinking the combination of flight training and an aero degree will lead to a test pilot career (infact I thought the same way after graduating), but after six or seven years in the aero industry my view is that test pilot positons on anything that is JAR/EASA 23 or above is the realms of the ex-military.
I certainly think in certain other countries it is possible to go FTE to TP but not in the UK, we don't have any complete airframe manufactures any more (some will say what about B-N, actually they don't tend to do many new airframes these days there are more into systems integration).
Yes I did have the opportunity to progress into FTE work, however I felt it was a case that I had to choose between FTE or civil pilot. Working in a permanent engineering job would only have allowed me to work one day a week as an instructor hence my rate of hours flown would be low. Secondly as a permanent airworthiness engineer / FTO my earnings were about half what I earn as a contract engineer hence would not have been able to afford to do me/ir renewals. Yes I am in a similar situation that a jet FO wages/turbo prop captain salary would be a slight pay cut, but only because I am a contractor; when I see what my equivalent technical grade in a permanent position earns the airline wages start to look more favourable. However good luck with whatever you decide.