> you could say the same thing about a dozen other languages
No, you could not. You could say it about maybe four others: PHP, C, C++, and C#.
No other languages have anywhere near the userbase size while being fairly quiet when it comes to online tech discussion.
I agree there are crusty old Java devs (as well as crusty old C, C++, PHP, etc. devs). In a decade or two, there will be crusty old TypeScript devs. It's just the nature of technology lifecycles and career paths. Some people get relatively tired of learning when they get older and just want to capitalize on what they already know for their remaining earning years.
I think I made a conscious effort in my 30s not to become a crusty old Python dev. But I predict that in another decade or two, I (now in my 40s) will be a crusty old Rust dev.
ok I may have exaggerated, but there are quite a bit of people silently writing and maintaining mission critical code in Fortran, Lisp, Cobal, Perl, Pascal, R, Assembly, the different BASICs, Lua, TCL, Erlang, and the list goes on. Plus those are just the ones off the top of my head where I have personally met people doing it in the last decade. I am always shocked by how much
Most of those rarely make to the top of HN, and other generalized forums. If anything, Java and Python are together at the popular kids table and we forget about the silent heros keeping the ship afloat.
No, you could not. You could say it about maybe four others: PHP, C, C++, and C#.
No other languages have anywhere near the userbase size while being fairly quiet when it comes to online tech discussion.
I agree there are crusty old Java devs (as well as crusty old C, C++, PHP, etc. devs). In a decade or two, there will be crusty old TypeScript devs. It's just the nature of technology lifecycles and career paths. Some people get relatively tired of learning when they get older and just want to capitalize on what they already know for their remaining earning years.