> but now that I've been out of that field for several years and working in embedded firmware and data, I would have to relearn much of what I "knew" in my old
This seems to me this is mostly caused by being out of the field for so long, not because you did something else while being out.
That seems like a distinction without a difference. The reason time erases skills is because you're always doing stuff, and over a longer period of time, you've done more stuff, which has reprogrammed your brain.
This seems to me this is mostly caused by being out of the field for so long, not because you did something else while being out.