Actually I beg to differ. I reckon you could easily go from zero to hero with a full ATPL without even having to demonstrate any aptitude for the job.
In fact you can get your 1,500hrs on an A340 if you really want to. Now it might have cost you upwards of 150-200k by the end of it and then again you will have flown with a variety of rinky dink airlines, have crap standards, probably not pass an entry test into a proper airline and therefore be unemployable anywhere else except in deepest darkest Africa or Russia but hey don't get sidelined by semantics. Its there if you want it. Just look up Eaglejet.