It appears that the humble turboprop will be.... how can I put it, sidelined over the coming years. Sure the technology of the TP matches and even exceeds that of jets but with the recent Embraer series of 190/195 I see the ascendency of the regional jet. It is especially more palatable for the traveling public that would much rather walk up to a small jet than a TP. It's that mental relation of the prop to old black and white WWII movies
Anyway after reading the posts on this thread I am of the opinion that TP time will be increasingly viewed in an isolated manner, i.e. good for other TP jobs. So if you start out on the ATR then what heavier TPs can you really move onto? The C-130?
As for the well trodden but rapidly disappearing route of building your time on turboprops and then onto the jets, well that seems to be history (much to my regret). The advent of the SSTR put paid to that where the 'source' of pilots from the lower rungs of the aviation ladder have been blocked off by the SSTR. Shame really because beyond the technicalities of the flying, the licences/ratings, etc is the personality. Alot can be said about your past flying/life experiences and they would only add to the job not detract from it but I doubt the beancounters see it like that. Clearly in the coming years the personality will no longer be there in the airline world (jet) because they all started of midway up the ladder rather than working their way up. Ask any armed services chappie if their past experience didn't count, they'd probably go on-and-on for ages about how such experiences made them what they are today.
I don't mean to rain anyone's parade especially SSTR, I understand and respect people decisions for going that route but whilst that new revolution was taking place the turboprop got squeezed out. Oh well things always change and evolve, aviation is no exception. However I shall still try and see what can be squeezed out of good ATR time and then take it from there.