Also working in FE for the past 10+ years with 20+ years total dev experience, and I agree with you.
The vast majority of companies out there - even large ones - don't really care, screen for, or hire for core fundamentals. They hire for "good at React" or "lots of experience with Next.js", etc. Fundamentals are great if you are building things from scratch, but the truth is companies very rarely do that. They just pull off the shelf things with large ecosystems and good documentation and use them. Just get good at those things and it's much easier to get hired. You can learn the fundamentals along the way.
The vast majority of companies out there - even large ones - don't really care, screen for, or hire for core fundamentals. They hire for "good at React" or "lots of experience with Next.js", etc. Fundamentals are great if you are building things from scratch, but the truth is companies very rarely do that. They just pull off the shelf things with large ecosystems and good documentation and use them. Just get good at those things and it's much easier to get hired. You can learn the fundamentals along the way.