as someone who has played EVE Online since launch...yup that sounds about right.
"leveling up" in EVE isn't based on XP, it's time based. you buy skills, had them to your skill queue, and they level up over hours, days, or even weeks. Or if you're building something again that's all time based. you either log off or do something else in game.
Hell due to the meta in the game and the massive player alliances there's some alliance leaders that don't even bother logging in. They just manage their alliance out of game. you can easily "play" EVE without actually playing EVE. so former EVE devs doing something like this shouldn't surprise anyone.