I'm an IT manager at an investment bank in the City, and worked my way up through - used to be shit hot technically, but as your responsibilities change you de-skill and forget stuff. Technology moves on and you are less involved and not hands on, so again, knowledge goes.

IT recruiters are utter sh*t. Their other speciality is to send you to job interviews that don't fit your skill set. They say - "just say you can pick it up quickly, or read up on it...." Like you can wing your way into a £60K technical job with a few hours of reading