This sounds like Stanford maintains its elevators but the state doesn't have enough inspectors to to certify and renew paperwork. But the anecdotes in the beginning make you think Stanford is ignoring its responsibility. Maybe it is, but the lack of inspectors sounds more plausible
No, but all of my side projects are work related things, and it has occurred to me that if I ever leave my company those projects will not help my github. I still do them anyway because I am most excited to build them.
I think so. Let me ask you this, what changed that would make it irrelevant? There have not been any earth shattering advances in language design that make it obsolete.
It may not align with your ambitions as a programmer, but math and functional programming still apply.
What's wrong with tech interviews? They have flaws, but I think they do a decent job of filtering out bad candidates. If you can solve basic problems under adverse conditions, you probably grasp the basics well enough for the job. That's better than someone who doesn't grasp the basics.