It's good insurance. You can probably get to the majors without it. Thousands have done just that. The problems started when the industry contracted. When you are competing against thousands of other furloughees for the same handful of jobs, PIC turbine becomes an easy discriminator for recruiters.

I had 1,149 pilots junior to me at USAir before 9/11. After 9/11 I was competing for a job at Comair since I was unqualified to apply at Southwest, JetBlue, Vanguard, ATA, etc...