Microservice architecture has become a mainstream approach for cloud-native systems, transforming industries across various business domains over the past decade. While scalability has been a key driver of its adoption, system heterogeneity is often cited as a critical advantage. The research community frequently underscores heterogeneity as a priority in proposed solutions and innovations. However, questions remain: How prevalent is heterogeneity in industrial systems? Are there specific governance practices for managing it? Is heterogeneity truly the main enabler for independent team operations? This paper bridges the gap between academic research and industry practices by combining industrial expertise with a controlled experiment. Through insights directly from practitioners, we explore the role and prevalence of heterogeneity in microservice-based systems. The findings identify common themes and influential factors shaping heterogeneity decisions, providing a foundation for future research to align more closely with the practical needs of the microservice industry.