Many old-school pilots started on fast jets, heavy RAF transport aircraft, helicopters, heavy BOAC long-haul jets, BEA heavy turboprops, and a plethora of others besides short-haul turboprops.
It is the variety of backgrounds and experiences that ensure a strong basic standard across all; I am quite sure that if everyone solely had turboprop experience prior to jets, that a great deal of other flying experiences that have a positive contribution would be unnecessarily sacrificed.
Depends what you want and where you will get the best experiences - working as hard as possible to experience more routes, captains and operating conditions might arguably be obtained at Ryanair than a smaller turboprop outfit. Or it might not depending upon your abilities and experiences.
The opinions of any one person are always going to be to justify their individual experiences and perceptions.