>Honestly, I was more technically savvy then than I am now 4 years into working at a large tech company.
The usual reason I see for down leveling is because being technically savvy is not what companies actually look for. I'm talking most jobs rather than being in an R&D division that is PhD heavy.
* Understanding the modern SDLC in a corporate environment and best practices. Academia often doesn't do things in a way that would be considered good production practices outside of it. Both from a process and a technical (CICD, heavy testing, layered frameworks, etc.) point of view.
* The culture of academia differs from corporate which means that while you gain soft skills they are biased versus what you'd get in a corporate environment. That can have subtle or not so subtle impact on decision making.
The usual reason I see for down leveling is because being technically savvy is not what companies actually look for. I'm talking most jobs rather than being in an R&D division that is PhD heavy.
* Understanding the modern SDLC in a corporate environment and best practices. Academia often doesn't do things in a way that would be considered good production practices outside of it. Both from a process and a technical (CICD, heavy testing, layered frameworks, etc.) point of view.
* The culture of academia differs from corporate which means that while you gain soft skills they are biased versus what you'd get in a corporate environment. That can have subtle or not so subtle impact on decision making.