I think most of you guys are missing a big point here.
It always comes to the point of supply and demand. The more you are needed, the faster you get the response. Of course there are people with the similar backgrounds getting to the target faster and with less obstacles, and that is of course due to miscoordination of the departments of the company, however never changes the general fact.
Right now there is a huge hole for first officers in the middle east and that is why the captains are kept on hold in the talent pool. If there was a need of captains it would have been the opposite. Upgrading to your final aircraft in an earlier age is much better than an older one. You get more adapted to aircraft, you can be shaped with the company culture better and you would be less worn out by the narrower bodies.
In my current company we are dealing with some ex Dash-8 captains with the experience of 5-6,000 hours as commander, right now been on 737 for the last 2 years and who fly worse than the most of 2-3 year experienced first officers.
Please don't take it as any disrespect, however this is the proof in front of me and if i see some other things, i will come back here and edit with and apology with keeping the old post as it is.
Qatar had recruited enough captains for 2015 until the beginning of march and the ones who attend to the assessments after that date are practically applying to be hired in 2016. I know that it is not fair and i know that there must be a lot of captains who are much better than the already recruited ones but this is like a first comers get served first platform, so everone needs to act accordingly.
I just want to add one more thing;
In my humble opinion, the earliest age for commander position should be 30 regardless of your joining age. Commander position is not only about the skills and experience, but also about making right decisions with a calm and mature mind. So you need to be balanced innerself before sitting on a position which require the person to be in a very balanced nature. Which certainly comes with age...