One thing that I do know about myself. I was a better pilot at 500 hours than I was at 200. I was exponentially better at 1000 than 500. I have about 2000 now (1200 dual given) and I can say from my experience that there isn't any real replacement for the valuable experience gained from being an instructor. I have a somewhat different situation than most, however. The reason I haven't gone to the airlines yet is I have been in college. I am now going to, in my opinion, the best regional RAH in May. The experience I have gained from instructing has been extremely valuable. You cannot buy experience. My instructing job then got me a corporate job on the side flying a 310 and a malibu. I have flown many hours single pilot ifr in mexico and central america and I have encountered icing conditions, electrical failures, instrument failures, lost an engine at 100 agl at full gross on takeoff in the mountains, etc. I will graduate in May with a degree in economics for Texas Tech University and even while flying I still was able to have a blast in college. President of my fraternity, went to parties, had a blast. Had I been instructing solely to build time rather than as a college job I probably would have gone to a regional earlier but now that I am where I am I wouldn't trade the cfi experience for anything. I'm 22 years old btw. My recommendation is don't get in so big a hurry to go somewhere that you lose sight of the fun and experience you can gain by teaching for a couple of years.