It is definitely true for the most part. I took a software engineering job in A software firm that’s considered on of the OG Silicon Valley company after I graduated. Unfortunately, I very quickly realized that whenever I applied to FAANG or other “SV cool kids” companies, I would not get an opportunity, meanwhile, new grads from my same Uni kept getting those jobs. You don’t get interviews because you work at a non glamorous company, but you work at a non glamorous company because you don’t get interviews. It’s a tough cycle that takes some serious work to get out of.
A thing that may be at play here is that you add “years of experience” on your resume, and therefore as a lateral hire, are expected to get paid more and therefore the risk aversion.
Another thing at play could be the recency of experience. Your most recent item on the resume is what catches the most attention, so if it is something like SWE at Walgreens vs Senior at MIT, the latter sounds more promising (even if it’s not true).
TLDR; there are consequences of not starting at the right company, because they compound over time.
But basically, go somewhere that isn't a black mark on your resume. I mean, there are obvious companies like Veritas, IBM, Symantec, Oracle, Cisco, HP (not Aruba), PornHub, ... which should be avoided because they have, for good or for bad, poor reputations for the junior candidates coming out of them (senior is quite a bit better - if they still code, which you have to watch out for). Anonymous startup (not crypto) probably a better choice, plus you will learn more.
A thing that may be at play here is that you add “years of experience” on your resume, and therefore as a lateral hire, are expected to get paid more and therefore the risk aversion.
Another thing at play could be the recency of experience. Your most recent item on the resume is what catches the most attention, so if it is something like SWE at Walgreens vs Senior at MIT, the latter sounds more promising (even if it’s not true).
TLDR; there are consequences of not starting at the right company, because they compound over time.