Do you believe your experience is common, or that you are an outlier?

It's less me, and more the experience of myself, my close friends and professional colleagues. But as with everything, I would assume it's a mix of both.

Can you speak more about these experiences? Are these colleagues from average or elite schools? FAANG type backgrounds or typical corp resumes?

No, we're all pretty average people. Mediocre colleges with mediocre degrees and mediocre working histories.