Shaun, if you want to pursue a career in aviation, after your PPL, you are going to need (in no particular order) an IR, CPL, ME, MCC and a type rating (or two). You also need all the theory for your ATPL.
Since most of these licenses/ratings require a fixed number of PIC hours before you start the course, or before you attempt the exam, after the PPL most people start hour building and do an IR, before they go for the CPL.
And what you typically see is that, considering the sheer volume of theory that needs to be mastered for an ATPL, most people start the ATPL theory after their PPL and put the actual flying on a low priority. They need to have finished the ATPL theory anyway before they can do the IR or CPL exam. (Yes, you can do a separate IR or CPL theory course but that overlaps with the ATPL course and is usually a waste of money if you're going to do an ATPL anyway.)
But to be honest, this is the kind of stuff that's better asked in the "wannabies" forum:
http://www.pprune.org/professional-p...nd-studies-14/