"I'd venture this was written by someone who has a more traditional machine learning background that wants new people to the industry to have that same foundation"

Yeah I get the same feeling. I am hesitant to suggest it, but gives a little bit of a gate-keeping vibe. Like only once you've payed sufficient homage to the same education path that I took, shall you be granted permission to be a 'real data scientist'.

That said, I think there is value in something like this more for hiring managers than practitioners... which makes sense considering the intro comments.