I love learning Algorithms and Data Structures. The issue is that I don't get to use these frequently, not even basic DS. Most of what I need exists in the language or some framework, and if I am to implement it from scratch, I am sure I will do worse. The only time I really use this knowledge is during interviews.
I (did) feel excatly the same. Now after working for 17 years I realize that I barely ever use this stuff, and when asked this stuff in an interview I do a lot worse than I did straight out of university. I am however a lot better software engineer than I was then.
