I don't think you are wide of the mark Faustino.
The job has changed in nature quite a bit in recent years. Locked cockpit doors, management pressure in new forms, more intensive working patterns, less variety of aircraft to fly, more issues to dealwith.
It is the intangible factors that have added up to change the nature of the job in signifigant and subtle ways.
I don't believe it is long term career anymore. Who would want, for example, to spend thirty years flying for a low cost carrier?
Alternatively how about a career on the Airbus?
The complexities of operational problems will remain for agile minds to solve under pressure of time. However, my guess is that more discerning individuals will see it as a poor career option in terms of intensity of work and lifestyle.
Pilots in their thirties and forties will report back to youngsters with increasingly less enthusiasm. This will have an impact on the type of individual applying for sponsorship etc.
Further to that I think the airlines will increasingly structure the career to favour the younger pilot. Training payback schemes, earlier commands and moving on to other careers earlier will have an effect on career longevity.
You have raised a good debate; lets keep it going.