[vsareto]

>At some point that's going to hurt you in terms of the sharpness of your knowledge and what you can demo/talk about on your successful projects when interviewing.

I don't think this is a real problem IMO. If you learned it in the first place, you can learn it again after slacking off for a bit. You might need a few months for the focused effort, which is honestly not a cost but probably what we in the industry call a sabbatical.

It may add some risk to getting a job if your life is suddenly turned upside down after slacking and you need a job right this instant. That slacking might fail you some interviews, but not all of them. Even in this situation, there are financial options and temp jobs to get by with.

I don't think anyone should ever be convinced that if you stop practicing something that your ability disappears completely. I'd put some faith into the idea that you can relearn it just as well or better when the need arises.

[TimPC]

I'm not saying your ability disappears completely. I also think it depends on the job market you're in. At my current company we interview under 1 in 1000 applicants because we get over 500 applications a day for open roles. The job market right now is not the same as the job market three years ago where you easily got 10 interviews, could pass 3 of them and then have a competitive negotiation with multiple companies. If you need to be in the top 0.1% of applicants to even get an interview you're going to get far fewer interviews. This is especially true if you are trying to push the limits on compensation and applying for positions that may be a slight stretch for your current experience.