If you see your identity as an engineer to be one grounded in the languages you use, you have commoditized yourself, or are at least very junior. Programmers solve problems, usually with a mix of deep skill sets revolving around domain knowledge or knowing how to use computation, systems, etc to solve them. Competency in a specific programming language is far down the list of what defines the value of a specific individual engineer to an organization or project.

Well, that’s not how programmers are recruited in the real world though. Java shops will hire Java programmers, C# shops will hire C# hands, etc etc. Marketing yourself as a generalist problem-solver will get you, at best, in one of those nightmare scenarios where you’re the only programmer in a non-tech company.

I specifically was referring to your identity as a programmer, not how you market yourself. Those are separate things.

The OP said "I'm a python programmer", and discounted the value of learning something new like elixir because it would undermine this due to the opportunity cost, which implies they may be falling into the trap I mentioned. All other things being equal, someone who is reasonably competent at both Python and Elixir is going to probably solve many problems in a better way than someone who didn't have a broader perspective. (In part because learning Elixir stretches well beyond learning a programming language, it is an introduction to an entire distinct continent of distributed systems knowledge and technology - OTP, BEAM, etc.)

That's why you don't market yourself as a generalist problem-solver. You market yourself as an expert in C# AND Python AND Swift AND... whatever else you know how to use. With appropriate signalling to communicate your experience levels with each.

There are lots of senior roles that require oversight of multiple projects that are working with different tech stacks. Some companies specialise in a single language. But lots of companies have say 2 or 3 backend languages (say C++, Go, and Python), plus a website in JavaScript plus mobile apps in Java/Kotlin and Swift/Objective-C. Being able to dive into all of those makes you incredibly valuable to this kind of company.

>You market yourself as an expert in C# AND Python AND Swift AND... whatever else you know how to use

So that everyone knows you're full of shit? It takes years in a technology to become an expert at it. There's no replacement for the experience of taking multiple projects from inception to production to scale. That's how you learn about the inscrutable errors, fiddly configuration issues, and pitfalls that make you an expert at something.

"Javascript" though isn't Javascript. I mean it could be, but it's worthless in that context because what you actually need to be productive is familiarity with the browser DOM, current frameworks for frontend or backend, and basic project structures.

For Java it might be enterprise Java, it might be Android, in which case you need familiarity with those frameworks to be productive. For Swift it'll be iOS.

No one's "diving into" the codebase for an iOS app starting from "I mostly do backend web app development in Golang".

Are you an "expert" in all those things? I doubt it. In fact the worst possible thing you can generally write anywhere is that you're an expert in C++ which at this point is oh-so-many subdialects.

> No one's "diving into" the codebase for an iOS app starting from "I mostly do backend web app development in Golang".

I mean, I've certainly been expected to at previous jobs (my background being backend and frontend web). It was a steep learning curve, but in retrospect it was also an excellent learning experience.

> Are you an "expert" in all those things? I doubt it.

No, but give me time. I'd consider myself an expert at frontend JavaScript/TypeScript and backend JavaScript/PHP. I have a decent amount of experience (enough to get a job an X developer, not enough to call myself an expert) in a number of other technologies (e.g. Python, Rust). And at my current day job, I'm responsible for a React-Native project through which I'm getting exposed to a lot of the quirks of the Android and iOS platforms.

Go I've not used. But Go's a relatively small ecosystem to learn. I don't put Go on my CV, but I'd be confident applying to a Go job. C++ I've done a little of, but I'm absolutely not an expert. Although Rust experience means that I understand most of the low-level concepts and best-practises that aren't C++-specific. Still, I absolutely don't advertise that on my CV either. One day though maybe. I'd like to do some embedded stuff at some point.

> In fact the worst possible thing you can generally write anywhere is that you're an expert in C++ which at this point is oh-so-many subdialects.

C++ is a bit of a special case there though. Because

1. C++ is huge: it takes a lot longer to master C++ than it does other technologies.

2. C++ is wildly unsafe. Therefore the consequences of not knowing what you are doing with C++ are much greater. You'll likely end up with a crashy program riddled with security holes.

In contrast, I wrote a production Rust project with no prior experience, and all the things that would have been crashes or security issues in C++ were compile errors. So the only consequence of my lack of experience was that it took longer to complete the project.

>If I'm a python developer, I'm now spending less time on my core competency, giving other python developers an edge.

so this argues against the theory that learning other languages and other programming paradigms makes you a better programmer in the languages you already know.

Or at least, that it is less valuable than spending the same time learning your core language.

This might be true based on your specific situation (relatively new to the language, but already know some other varied languages); I don't know.

That depends what you learn. Spending 3 months working on a Rust project has done a lot more for my ability as a JavaScript developer (my strongest language) than spending those 3 months working on a JavaScript project would have.

FWIW I agree with you. I'm a Java dev and learning a language that's similar to it (C, C#, Python, whatever) does nothing for me but take away from learning more of my language.

Other comments say an engineer is supposed to solve issues with the tools given to them. I can solve issues in other languages, I just don't want to. How does that make me a bad engineer?

For one, because you select your tools and reject others not based on their rational merits.

Second, because you are also likely to favor recruitment of other devs based on this cultural choice not on their merit, eventually creating a clique.

Productivity and working knowledge of a tool do not count as rational merits? It takes years to really learn a language; a new framework and language per week is a stupid fad.

If I run a Java shop I want a clique of Java devs, not Golang or Rust devs.

There is some truth in this, but less than commonly believed.

A "multi cultural", Jack-of-all-trades kind of team, that have a broader knowledge of many tools and techniques but less in depth familiarity with any of them, is more likely to use less features from the languages and tools that they have picked for a few of their strong points only, and less likely to indulge themselves with a level of sophistication that benefits their ego (and job security) more than the project.

> If I run a Jave shop

So I know a Python shop must be a business that sells reptiles, but what does a Java shop sell?

Most of the tools we use are language agnostic - databases, message brokers, containers, kubernetes, etc.

>So I know a Python shop must be a business that sells reptiles, but what does a Java shop sell?

Coffee obviously.

A good engineer will prefer some language(s), but be able to figure out anything should the job require it. This career track shift stuff is complete bullshit.

The workers are settled and and don't want change. And there's nothing wrong with clocking in and out and not giving a shit about your "career". But there is something wrong with the managers falling for this.