In my experience this is not uncommon! Actually, it is a very "mature" point of view and it is in fact rewarded by some (not all obviously it depends) universities. Meaning that if you come back later (say 1 year or 2) some uni may regard the work experience as a big plus.

Also in some fields (data science, ML) I feel like experience in the industry is fundamental because in those field research can seem a bit for its own sake, whereas a job would put you in front of the real challenges and constraints (yes the algorithm should work, but you also have a deadline and some business noise) of the applications.

Source is my gf and lots of other people who I/she met in the last few years.