I disagree with this point of view. The main foundation isn't of quickly-accessible knowledge, it's having a good process and strong intuition. Knowledge feels

I disagree with this point of view. The main foundation isn't of quickly-accessible knowledge, it's having a good process and strong intuition. Knowledge feels more incidental than being the main focus. If you throw a Staff engineer into a new domain they're likely going to quickly become more effective than a mid level engineer with domain knowledge because they have better meta level skills. Of course, this is very dependent on how specific the function of the person you're hiring is and how quickly things are moving. If you're hiring for a very specialist role then knowledge will be a lot more valuable. Same goes if the domain is not moving very quickly (I.e. historical knowledge is valuable). Though in general, I think a lot of people would jump to hire a SWE who has been an expert in a different domain.