re: research - Absolutely true that this is a top skill assuming you have the ability to assess and decompose the problem domain. I research almost daily for all kinds of things besides just refreshing my memory on syntax differences. I'm constantly on the lookout for new ways to solve particularly sticky problems and frequently look for new approaches to things I already know how to do. It keeps my skills current.

How can you approach pair programming if your company doesn't support it?

The more languages you know the more often you will refer to documentation for syntax. Very few people have the opportunity to code constantly enough to hold syntactical differences in their minds. As you start to take on broader responsibilities for solving problems outside of the code, you will write less of that code and use documentation more.

Not moving more often to new challenges. My cycle tends to be 5-7 years in one position. You get stale and technology advances tend to not keep up with your workplace.

In my experience most seasoned developers don't hate marketing; they hate Sales. ;-) I cannot count the number of times sales has made commitments to customers without any idea of the Level of Effort involved or if the project is even feasible given ROI requirements.

Now explain the virtual DOM just as well :-)

Any suggestions about finding that someone to do code reviews when you have no one in your personal contacts who has the expertise in the language you're trying to master? I've been working in Javascript for a couple years, but I come from a (long) Java background and I know there must be issues with my code vs. Js best practices.