It depends, I've worked in industry and startups for about 15 years. Time and again I've found that people I work with from $BIG_NAME tend to not be the best performers.
Often they operate with presumption that they should be in top positions, but rarely do the kinds of crap work that would actually earn them that slot. This can cause tons of friction in a team and I've personally found it better to try and not have people from $BIG_NAME on the team if I can help it.
I've also found that they are rarely innovators or out-of-the-box thinkers. They tend to be conformists and try to execute within the given rule set to the best of their ability.
However, I think perhaps my anecdotal experience runs contrary to the fact of how many SV types come from $BIG_NAME.
Perhaps it's the circles I tend to work in, selecting less from $BIG_NAME and more from $LOCAL_STATE_SCHOOL...perhaps all the folks from $BIG_NAME are people I'm seeing who have slid quite down the ladder with respect to their peers and aren't star performers no matter what.
Back in my college days at $LOCAL_STATE_SCHOOL I did notice that there were very few SV companies recruiting there and many more of the huge defense contractor type. It was alarmingly easy to get an internship at one of those huge companies and disappear into a long, but often reasonably rewarding career in the government. Some of the problems the government works on are impressively hard (see SV darling Palantir for an example) and there's no shortage of incredible people I've met who decidedly didn't go to $BIG_NAME and do fantastic, mind-blowing stuff.
I think early in your career it can mean something. And except for a few holdouts that care about some largely irrelevant piece of paper you bought a decade before (see Google), most places won't care after 5 years in the field and I've found most people end up more or less even in term of pay, responsibility, position, etc. If you are starting your own company? It doesn't matter at all.
Often they operate with presumption that they should be in top positions, but rarely do the kinds of crap work that would actually earn them that slot. This can cause tons of friction in a team and I've personally found it better to try and not have people from $BIG_NAME on the team if I can help it.
I've also found that they are rarely innovators or out-of-the-box thinkers. They tend to be conformists and try to execute within the given rule set to the best of their ability.
However, I think perhaps my anecdotal experience runs contrary to the fact of how many SV types come from $BIG_NAME.
Perhaps it's the circles I tend to work in, selecting less from $BIG_NAME and more from $LOCAL_STATE_SCHOOL...perhaps all the folks from $BIG_NAME are people I'm seeing who have slid quite down the ladder with respect to their peers and aren't star performers no matter what.
Back in my college days at $LOCAL_STATE_SCHOOL I did notice that there were very few SV companies recruiting there and many more of the huge defense contractor type. It was alarmingly easy to get an internship at one of those huge companies and disappear into a long, but often reasonably rewarding career in the government. Some of the problems the government works on are impressively hard (see SV darling Palantir for an example) and there's no shortage of incredible people I've met who decidedly didn't go to $BIG_NAME and do fantastic, mind-blowing stuff.
I think early in your career it can mean something. And except for a few holdouts that care about some largely irrelevant piece of paper you bought a decade before (see Google), most places won't care after 5 years in the field and I've found most people end up more or less even in term of pay, responsibility, position, etc. If you are starting your own company? It doesn't matter at all.