Just for comparison's sake:
Started at the college end of June 2007..
Posted to Heathrow after finishing aerodrome January 2008..
Waiting around / Going on visits / Training in the sim for 6 months..
Started on watch June 2008..
Validated February 2009.
This isn't necessarily indicative of what happens now, I believe the sim course has reduced in length dramatically to a matter of weeks, and obviously different people take different amounts of time to get through the various stages so it depends how quickly you can pick it up!