Find a thing you like and code it. If there aren't any, find something that isn't code. Not everyone likes to code. A lot of people are told this is the job that makes money but it's not even true.

Go be a lawyer or something. You might like it better and it will make more money.

The array question sux. Everyone has a variation of it. You can just memorize one version and write it down, all it shows is that you have passed interviews before and learned from that.

Github is nice because they don't have to ask you to see your code, it's already there.

It depends, but usually the interviewer will and should steer the conversation where they get value.

If the candidate says "I like to go bowling on fridays" and you're like "omg he's not coding 24/7 no hire" that's your problem. But I'm sure instead you ask other similar questions until you know if they like what they're doing code wise or not.

Hiring practices are very important as the people make the company, so everything goes both ways. Some companies will never hire the talent they need because of bad practices

That said i overall like your methods.