This matches my experience too. I'm a software dev in my 40s, started career at NI out of college, multiple companies since then.

NI had a fantastic college recruiting process. They sent engineers (not HR people or recruiters) to college career fairs all across the country, often back to their own alma mater, to snag the best-and-brightest from good engineering programs. They then organized big interview days where something like 50 or 100 college applicants would be flown in to interview on Thurs/Friday and then be taken out to downtown Austin on Friday night.

Their interview process was technical, rigorous but fair, and avoided the pitfalls of pointless puzzle questions or of favoring elite credentials over abilities. And their managers, product and sales positions all started from that same pool of entry-level engineers, so even if you were interacting with someone who's title was like "Product Marketing Manager" they had a BSc in engineering, comp sci, physics, math, etc.

The end result was that you always had very intelligent and capable coworkers surrounding you every day. I left for the same reason many other posters have mentioned- by mid career, I was getting paid substantially less than I could make elsewhere.