Like a lot of things in life it's about being in the right position at the right time. If you want to be a trader in a big city firm then you need to present yourself to them with a decent red brick Uni degree (preferably OxBridge) under age 25 or so. There's little chance to 'work your way up' to the fast track positions that pay eye watering salaries - sure, you can join the back office and earn a decent salary, but you'll never catch the fast track high flyers up. At this time the same generally applies to a lot of european airlines: If you want to join then present yourself to one of their chosen schools with no experience. If you chance your luck training else and then taken other jobs then they aren't terribly interested.. Also, the salaries are far from eye watering.
My point is that if you choose to join an industry then you have to abide by the generally accepted norm. This means bar a few exceptions, joining with low hours having been to a established FTO. This is well known, yet people still take their chances and look surprised when no jobs are forthcoming!
These pilots are all legal, safe and fairly keen. People keep saying there will be a crash and the system will then blame the low hours pilot, but every time there IS a crash somewhere it is often the very opposite, a very experienced pilot involved!