This is consistent with my experience as well, as a researcher in industry with a fairly high open source profile. I get a trickle of emails along the lines of, "your work is awesome, can I be your apprentice?" This has never panned out. But if you come to me with specific questions demonstrating that you've read what I've written and are passionate about the ideas, you'll get a mentoring call and an openness to consider collaboration. I've had two such in the last two days, in fact, one through an introduction, the other from a cold IM. For me, academic status is not a factor, but then, I'm not actually in academia.