[vezzy-fnord]

Generally sound, but there does seem to be a certain breed of vanguard who lives off being heterodox with regards to the computing mainstream, yet functions just fine and likely harbors plenty of insights. Much of the Go team lived full time on Plan 9 at one point or another, and it's not like all of them were Rob Pike or Ken Thompson.

There is value in keeping up with trends, but on the flip side there is value in sticking with sound ideas, even if they are not necessarily attractive in the labor market, and learn enough to be employable or self-sustainable in some regard.

I would say server-side JS might not necessarily be a great long-term prospect, at least in part due to limitations with SMP and unwieldy concurrency models. Even if it persists, the value of knowing might be more of a labor necessity than any inherent utility.

Because programming operates on lots of trends and conjecture, knowing which ones not to waste time on is a much more valuable skill than jumping to stay "relevant".