Skywest pilots as individuals are generally a good bunch. The problem is as a pilot group-the current group is very much saddled with the bad decisions of the past. This mostly comes down to not having a union.
The company keeps things juuuuuust good enough to keep a union off the property. The pilots benefit by not paying union dues while still enjoying descent wages, but terrible work rules. The Skywest pilots also benefit from many safety and security initiatives which are mostly fought for and maintained by the unionized carriers.
If you are interested in Skywest as a very short term stepping stone to a major, that's fine. But you should realize that you may get stuck there or any other regional for a large number of reasons. In that light-Skywest is not a good place to be stuck.
As far as the west coast bases, be prepared to spend many many years getting to them.
Good training from what I have been told by friends.
IT support for pilots is top notch. Better than most majors.
Quite a few wack job senior Captains also, which is most likely irrelevant since they're all in Salt Lake.