[reknih]

In use cases like the Markdown to PDF pipeline described in the article, sure! Documents there are also simple enough so that compile times aren't too much of a problem.

However, many of the documents we like to set in TeX are more complex than that: bibliographies, figure placement, special typographical flourishes.... And here is where the complexity of LaTeX and its macros adds to the inherent complexity of what we are trying to accomplish (and compile times quickly ballon again).

So, sometimes it helps...?