I felt the geography factor myself (despite being born in a developed country) when colleagues were telling about getting internships or junior positions out of highschool or when still living at home - there were little to no local (=same country) jobs or companies in my industry when I was young (the situation is better now, but I emigrated almost 20 years ago).

The idea of growing up in a city/metro area where you could know someone local working for such companies sounded like sci-fi.