My two pence... When I started out 8 years ago, my old man used to say "flying is just a hobby, get a proper job". Till this day and even knowing that I now have my prof licenses he says the same thing. And he is right (but probably for the wrong reasons
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In this day and age, you are a fairly useless human being if all you know is how to fly a plane. Make sure you have a backup career path. I know a lot of people say this but it's also true not a lot of people actually listen to this advice. By backup career path I don't mean a mere qualification. I'm talking about practical, hands on real life experience.
Having been exposed to around 100+ student pilots over the course of my training, it defies belief how many think flying a jet is the only skill they need in life. Hard times like these prove that to be woefully untrue.
In short then, those of you who start at 18, 19, 20 or 21 (if you're a Uni leaver) and move on to airlines (as your first job) you're asking for trouble. Being this age and commencing a flying career you're likely to have a lot of debt. If you're airline folds you are left in the doodoo to roast (unless you follow WWW's school of thought but we'll leave that for a rainy day!). This matters now more than ever as the cost of living has spiralled. Even 18 hour shifts at Burger King are not gonna help. What would've helped is 4-5 years experience in another field.
The best advise I can give budding school/uni leaver wannabes is delay your career by around 5 years. You can clearly see how the airline industry goes from boom to bust. There are so many opportunities out there to make real, hard, fast cash in other careers it's almost untrue. And you should take the opportunity to, cos you'll need it!