> So I can't fault people for trying to avoid this mess.

Ex-Amazon here. Being deeply familiar with OS fundamentals and internals, "low level" tools, and so on is crucial.

A lot of candidates show to interviews with CVs filled with names of popular frameworks and fancy devops tools and often don't understand what really happens behind the curtain.

People are becoming less familiar with the basics and tend to reinvent the wheel. In many teams this does not get you hired.