Hmm, you know, people don't actually ask me this all that much, because I've just always done both development and anthropology alongside each other. So I've had to make tradeoffs to balance between the two, but I have never really had to make a single switch from one to the other.
In my experience, most anthropologists don't understand technical work very clearly, so it's kind of opaque to them.
I have a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology and get asked constantly how I made the switch. I'd love to hear your story. . .