[bmj]

Your Market Place reference is about "the biggest tech companies." There is work outside of FAANG, and, in my experience, a fair bit of it. As you point out, the work isn't "sexy," but, truth be told, many of us don't do "sexy work" day in and day out.

You are also assuming that every entry level software development position is grueling and low paying. I understand that some companies treat younger employees are disposable (even my own employer, who hires younger/less experienced devs as operations support, which assumes lots of crappy work), but I don't think that's the case in every entry level position.