Picard's age:

[Kobayshi Maru]

Thirty plus years is a very long time! It's long enough to be the captain of five or six consecutive ships... It's hard to believe that after such a long time doing nothing, they gave him the command of the most advanced ship in star fleet. That wouldn't make much sense.

The 30-plus years thing is one of those writers' accidents: the TNG writers' guide said that he'd commanded the Stargazer with immense success for 22 years, implying it was immediately prior to TNG, and the reason why he'd been given the Enterprise.
Then 10-ish episodes in, The Battle established that Stargazer was lost nine years before TNG, but the 22-year line in the guide remained in and was assumed [even if the writers had wanted to change it, the writers' guide was out there in fandom], even if it was maybe never explicitly mentioned onscreen (think it was, but without checking I may be transferring my fanon assumptions...).
Hence the later hints that maybe Picard took over as Stargazer CO in some emergency that killed his superiors, and all that, which would have made him Stargazer's acting CO very very young, but not necessarily a captain in rank until Starfleet confirmed it and promoted him.

I could see his Stargazer career going something like
Lt-Cdr Picard, Second Officer (newly promoted and transferred)
Lt-Cdr Picard, acting Captain (following deaths of captain and first officer).
Commander Picard, confirmed as Captain by Starfleet in view of recent service and promoted accordingly (given that a small ship like Stargazer could be COed by a commander).
Captain Picard, CO Stargazer, promoted after several years of exemplary service in that role.
And then, eventually, Captain Picard, mandatory court martial for loss of USS Stargazer pending...

But after the court martial, why would their next move be to promote him as captain of the Enterprise? That's what I have a hard time understanding. It would make more sense if there was at least another ship in the meantime. I mean, the Star gazer was a rust bucket compared to the Enterprise.

 

[Ithekro]

What do we know about Picard's career between the loss of Stargazer and his taking command of Enterprise? There is about eight years between these commands. What was he doing for those years following the court martial hearing for the loss of Stargazer?

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

What do we know about Picard's career between the loss of Stargazer and his taking command of Enterprise? There is about eight years between these commands. What was he doing for those years following the court martial hearing for the loss of Stargazer?

It's a mystery.

 

[Timo]

Only one fact is known, from TNG episode "Legacy":

Picard: "Let me tell you about your sister. The first time I saw Tasha Yar, she was making her way through a Carnelian mine field to reach a wounded colonist. Her ship had responded to their distress call, as had mine. When it was all over, I requested that she be assigned to the Enterprise."

So this happens before the start of TNG, but after the loss of Stargazer or else Picard would have requested that she be assigned to that ship instead.

Since it's before the start of TNG, but Picard is aboard a ship, we might deduce that Picard was commanding a ship between the two known by name. But he could also have been aboard as a passenger. (The ship in question is unlikely to be the E-D, because that ship supposedly did not perform any operational missions before Tasha Yar came aboard, in the flashback scene from "All Good Things..". Of course, the E-D could have been involved in "unofficial business" before formal launch to a mission, like the E-B, but would Starfleet prematurely send a ship when there already was another, supposedly fully operational ship available, namely Tasha's?)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gotham Central]

Its worth noting that Picard's career was of such distinction that not only was he given command of the Flagship, before the end of his first year of duty in command of the Enterprise he was already being offered a promotion to admiral. Walker Keel wanted to make him an Admiral and Commandant at SFA. Admittedly he was doing that so that he could keep an eye on ominious things happening on Earth, but he could have done so if Picard was actually worthy of the position.

 

[Avro Arrow]

There's also this, from "The Next Phase":

PICARD: I've been thinking about the first time I met Geordi La Forge. He was a young officer assigned to pilot me on an inspection tour, and I made some off hand remark about the shuttle's engine efficiency not being what it should. And the next morning I found that he'd stayed up all night refitting the fusion initiators. Well, I knew then that I wanted him with me on my next command.

We have no idea what Picard was inspecting, but it sounds from the phrasing that he is between commands at the time. And it would appear that the "next command" ended up being the Enterprise.

That being said, I would presume he would have commanded something between Stargazer and Enterprise.

(I really should re-read The Buried Age. I remember *really* liking the book, but a lot of the details have faded...)

 

[Timo]

And the exploits of the Stargazer appeared to be suggested or otherwise popular reading at the Academy - that's probably telling something, considering how many ships Starfleet has out there...

Would an adventurous career of exploration be enough to boost Picard to high positions (and not merely to popular fame), though? Or did he need to spend those eight or nine years between the commands honing his political skills, sucking up to a number of Admirals, and otherwise buying votes?

It would rather seem likely that a skipper who has been Out There for twenty years would be out of the loop and lacking in connections. But perhaps that's why Picard was such a good candidate - he didn't have too much San Francisco muck on his uniform yet.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Pretty fascinating to me, is how Picard's background ended up "emulating" Kirk's, in that both men have vague back stories with contradictory details which defy cohesive explanations.

 

[Armored Saint]

Perhaps Picard had non-permanent command during these 8 years. Exemple: He's assigned to a diplomatic mission, so, for the occasion, he takes command of a small ship. On the other hands, how many Star Trek characters had their full pedigree stated on screen. Picard always talked about the Stargazer because she was her first love and they had been together for a really long time. So in fact, Picard's past isn't so mysterious, it's only the contrast made by the importance of the Stargazer.

 

[Timo]

^^Isn't that universal in televised entertainment, though? At least careers in a fictional Starfleet are more easily handwaved than careers in, say, NYPD or USAF or UCLA.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Armored Saint]

Shhhhhhhhh! Star Trek is an unique product. It has nothing in common with other tv-shows, especially other american tv-shows produced during the same time-period.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

^^Isn't that universal in televised entertainment, though? At least careers in a fictional Starfleet are more easily handwaved than careers in, say, NYPD or USAF or UCLA.

Timo Saloniemi

You're right. Just this past winter, during my re-watch of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., in a handful of episodes, Sergeant Carter was said to have been in the Marines for fourteen, thirteen, fifteen and eighteen years!