Well, at least never since the regionals were created. You can get a 4 year degree, 1500 hours and get on with a regional. By age 30 you can be sitting in the right seat with a legacy. By age 40 or 45 you can be sitting in the left seat, spending half your career in command of an aircraft the Wright Brothers could never have dreamed of.

Back in the 1950s/1960s guys got hired in their 20s directly into the majors, but had to sit sideways and wear two stripes for a few years. (Some even remember one stripe as an observer/flunked.) Course most of their CAs cut their teeth on DC-3s (and DC-2s) and were quick with the sextant to navigate by the stars at night.