Maybe the author should be more specific because in the job searches I have done of late, my target companies almost never have junior positions open. Admitted,

Maybe the author should be more specific because in the job searches I have done of late, my target companies almost never have junior positions open. Admitted, I do more niche stuff, but if you look for example at how NVIDIA hires, what counts as a junior there is a PhD with 3 conference papers, opensource contributions and a prior internship.