I often wonder how such teams build their devices - I assume it requires quite a few pieces of equipment that can't be bought at a nearby shop. Are such devices ordered from some manufacturer or are they built in-house somehow?
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Established labs often have a specialised section that cultivates all the little tricks how to do these things.
Knowledge is transferred by hiring postdocs that have the skills you need or by sending a phd student over to be trained.
As a scientist, if you do this for a while you end up with insane skills, but there is no place for them on the job market.
Everybody else is living 15 years in the past from your perspective.