don,
Reading between the lines Capt Smiffy is a 330 guy who was transferred to the 380 as an FO. ie he had to start his whole 2500hrs again in order to get his CMD.
That isn't the norm for most guys at EK, so his is an (extremely frustrating) anomaly. It shouldn't be referenced as the typical career path to CMD in EK because it quite simply isn't.