Thanks for the replies.
With any flying I mean that, I am aware that the industry is not at its best at the moment, and so I definitely do not expect to walk straight into an airline job the day after I qualify. I would love to make it a career, but I accept that it must be step by step
Yes the FTOs obviously want to stay in business. I have been researching and looking around since I was 17 probably, and was always postponing going in for the ATPL all this time, so much so I got a degree since then! But time is passing by quite quickly... and I do believe that above a certain age... you would have missed your chance