As a drinker, I've occasionally ordered a non-alcoholic drink while everyone else was drinking because I had an early morning, had somewhere else to go, or simply wasn't in the mood. I've received pushback, for certain, on that - Alcoholics do get offended when you don't drink with them - but the one incident that ruffled me was odd enough that it stands out in my mind, and while I've certainly gotten "Just one" a few times, I've never felt unduly pressured to drink at work.
To put it really simply - I'd bet that the OP's author has experience what he's claiming, but I think he needs to get out of dodge because it is concentrated and you can just go work for companies that are more friendly.
I grant you a developer advocate would need to do this.
No, that's not what it implied. Only if you give the least charitable interpretation, rather than the most charitable interpretation.
There are work events that are unavoidable for many people. For all people? No, of course not. There are exceptions to every generalization. But let's not pretend that work events are unimportant to careers, generally speaking.
Would you not say that networking is important, in general? The article author was specifically talking about a networking event.
My point was that these events are not necessarily about pure personal enjoyment, and finding them disagreeable in some way is not necessarily a reason to avoid them, if it's important to your career that you attend. That's not a "waste of time".
Many of my friends have similar experiences.