I'm 19-years-old. I got a job with easyJet two months after my nineteenth birthday and I now have just over 200 hours on type to go with the 160 I got at OAA. I'm lucky and I believe you make your own luck in flying. This is also based on what I'm told being a third generation pilot with both my Father and my Grandad flying forty-plus year careers with British Airways and it's predecessors.
P2F is the future because it makes no sense in growing older after having just paid all the money you do to obtain a fATPL and sitting on your backside doing
, working menial jobs or taking flying positions that don't allow you do to what you ultimately want - fly a jet. If you are happy to piston pound and fly turboprops all day, fair play, but don't bash someone who invests in their future by paying money for something that ALL the airlines today want - a type rating and hours on type.
It is a gamble but you don't get anywhere without taking a risk. I did not pay for my type rating or my line training and I was lucky that I went straight in from OAA. Others are not as lucky and are making their own luck. If you do not have the money, cannot justify it or are for whatever reason unable to pay for a type rating or hours on type, it's going to be a long wait for you to get a job in this climate on a jet and even if you are able, you'll essentially pay for it through a lesser salary or in another way.
My advice is if you have the money, pay it and take a leap of faith - everyone will eventually have to do the same, you'll just reap the rewards earlier.