Boutique to BB? Underdog looking for advice

I've been lurking in WSO for quite a while now. There has been some misleading advice from college students, which makes sense since this forum is kind of like that college confidential forum except it's for students looking to get into IB. But there's still incredibly smart people here and I learned a lot from WSO over the past 4 years.

I was at Big 4 audit for just 6 months and broke into a no name boutique. I know no name shops are a crapshoot, but our firm is not bad- we specialize in M&A and I get to see the entire deal process. Good deal flow so no cold calls. I'm grateful that I get to learn valuation, DD, Greenfield Research, etc. I was also given the Associate level.

I'm one of those kids who had to claw my way to get here. Born from a dirt poor family, got in good schools but we couldn't pay for tuition, disqualified from all financial aid due to something out of our control, gap year working 60-70 hour physical labor type job, parent getting cancer, and financially supporting myself all throughout college. I'm finally making a decent amount of money. 80% goes to my fam and there's no better feeling than being able to help them.

How hard would it be for me to break into BB? one of the BB bankers told me it might be hard to go straight to BB because they care more about prestige. Would I need to first jump to MM? Also, would I be able to come in as an Associate if I gain 2 years of experience as an Associate at my boutique bank? Thank you for your time.