You are so right. Im 55 now and have developed on tools, a lot of ERP/Manufacturing stuff, compliance, integration tools. Have never had the need to reach for Knuth so that shows either I am pig-ignorant, arrogant, or there is no real need in general. It is good to know algorithms but these are not the main stuff of the real world. Learn about design patterns, user experience, product philosophy, and invest time in learning about your company (who, how and why started, markets, competition) and you will go further and faster than being able to ace a whiteboard interview on the foibles of event processing in Vue. And yes i still cant write good javascript - because IT IS NOT IMPORTANT so i have avoided until this year and Im now learning it as a hobby, not a need.