I won't make any comment on the 'what other people think of you' aspect, as I don't think that is always a reliable yardstick. What I will say though, is that the whole point of line training is to indoctrinate a new pilot into a particular company's SOPs. Therefore, undertaking line training independently or at an airline that will not provide employment after completion of training is utterly pointless and any 'graduate' of such schemes stands almost no chance of gaining employment, especially in the current market.