Some Windows servers use the Windows Server Core edition and you can manage it only via terminal if you choose to. In those cases, a command line text editor is useful. I'd say it's not super common from my experience. More often I see people using RDP or SMB file shares for file editing.
NHibernate is quite popular alternative to EF and I've seen it used on many projects, especially big apps. Some smaller apps also choose Dapper (by StackExchange) and avoid EF.
Regarding ASP.NET, you're right. There are some alternatives, but not used very often from my experience.
In my opinion, you can go a bit more low level in C# and have control over allocations, data copying, threads, etc. Also, .NET is a bit more general purpose than Node. If the workload is more about computation (CPU/GPU intensive stuff) or has some unusual technical requirements (uncommon protocols, interop, etc.), you can really benefit from being lower level and more generic.
But all this is very project specific... it's hard to make these sort of claims about performance.
Depends IMO. I worked on some VERY specific program with lots of terms that just don't have a proper translation. And the program was internal to the company that only ever operated in one country and only ever will.
People who practice playing musical instruments eventually learn something similar. You shouldn't really push hard, you need to be relaxed and then the speed will come. Plus it's also lot more enjoyable.
