[kybernetikos]

I've worked with programmers from many of the big names (amazon, apple, facebook, google), and I've met quite a few programmers at least as good in little out of the way companies. I think recruiters massively overvalue having one of the big names on a cv.

[Joeri]

Then again, if you do have a big name on your resume, it lets the recruiter reasonably safely assume you can program well enough. That sort of confidence in a candidate is hard to overvalue.

[kybernetikos]

There are lots of things that can give you as good or better confidence that a candidate can program well enough, and a big name on a CV is no guarantee either.