Seems like higher education (MBA, JD, etc) and things outside of aviation nowadays seems to trump ambassadorship to the profession such as due paying, CP, Check Airman, PIC time and longevity.

The people from my company that left and went to DAL/UAL/AK etc and had me scratching my head about what the above airlines were thinking all had one thing in common: Lots of outside degrees and just barely enough aviation experience. Just saying.

The degrees, volunteering, community service etc seems to be more valuable than actual aviation experience.

At some point the airplane still needs to be flown. Safely.