I am a former "Laker" and would have to say Lakes will make you one hell of a pilot. Fun flying, great people to fly with, training is tough, no GPS, no Autopilot, horrible work hours and horrible management. With that said I wouldn't change my decision of going there for anything. It makes training at any other airline a breeze and you will enjoy the QOL much more once you leave.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Zach
Can't say I 100% agree with you. I too began at a prop outfit and flew planes without advanced automation, FMS, full glass etc... Sadly nobody caress if you are one "heck of a stick" everyone can fly to varying degrees of skill. What will hurt is when you try and make the jump to a major and the lack of "technology" on your resume may cause some issues.
It isn't any fun going through initial at a jet carrier when everyone else has been flying glass and FMS for the last 10 years and you are trying to learn how to program a flight plan into the box. Training departments will not have much sympathy to the fact that you don't know how to program an box but you have great "hand flying skills"