Flight instructing should be a mandatory step
In my experience, you'll do yourself a favor by instructing a bit. I have flown with captains who have not instructed, and those who have. You can definitely tell a difference between the two. There is no faster way to build quality time. I have done aerial photography, skydive flying, and flight instruction and have gotten the most out of flight instruction. In the end it is somewhere between 1 and 2 years of your life, but you'll learn a WHOLE lot.