Is it normal to need to replace my brakes every few months? My journey to work has uphill and downhill segments in both directions (a fact I'm sure to share with my future grandkids one day). In two of these segments, I have to brake pretty hard to arrest my speed.
Despite having my brakes replaced recently, and despite having worked from home about 50% of the time and not using my bike as much, I am once again in the situation where maximum-effort braking is no longer enough to slow myself down to a stop on these slopes.
Is the need for regular new brakes something I should just accept? Or are there higher quality brakes available that I should ask the bike shop to install?
EDIT: I think the brakes are disc brakes. This is what they look like:

I am vaguely aware that on some brakes you can adjust something that allows you to tighten the remaining brake material against the disc, but I'm not sure how you'd do that.
That seems too frequent and perhaps something else is going on with respect to cable tension that is preventing you from applying maximum force through the brake assembly.
For instance, if you still have material left on the pad and just feel like when you pull the lever in all the way that you are not slowing, then perhaps there is too much slack in the cable in relation to the resting position of the lever.
On my bike, I can use my barrel adjuster to get the pads the right distance away from the rim such that I have very little play in the lever before the pads touch the rims. If you have more than 1-2mm between the pads and the rim, then that is too much space.
Hope that helps and for a frame of reference I have several thousand miles on my Shimano 105 brakes, but I don't have too many major descents where I am really pushing them.
---- Edited Due to Pic Posting-----
Yes you have disc brakes and with the rust on there, it looks like you potentially could have a caliper that is sticking. I assume the pads are worn to the backing material when you take them off correct? If so, most likely a caliper that is not releasing for some reason or another.
I only have experience on car disc brakes, so will let someone else comment regarding the bikes, but if you have a sticking caliper, replacement of it/faulty parts perhaps is best vs. eating through pads and eventually the disc.