[chadcmulligan]

Why are you applying for Java jobs? It sounds like you want some reasons to not do it :-). Java is just a language, and I agree with you, its not very appealing with its factoryFactoryFactorys and so on, but it can pay well, but there are other jobs around.

As for interfering with you're side projects - I've used multiple languages, after a while changing between them is pretty easy. I liken it to people who know multiple human languages, they can switch effortlessly between them, programming languages are a lot more similar than human languages.

[mikece]

Almost all computer languages were developed to deal with a particular problem or issue, so they bring a set of abilities best for dealing with the "main problem" with them. In the case of Erlang it's massive concurrency; Rust is aimed at memory safety; Ruby at programmer joy; Java at filling billable hours for contractors (I kid... sort of). By knowing several languages you assimilate different programming philosophies so when the question comes up of how to write something brand new and you suggest programming language X, if you're a polyglot you're going to be able to give a ten to twenty minute impromptu presentation on the specific merits of language X given the problem set rather than just say "I saw it mentioned on HN last week and it seems pretty hip."

[chadcmulligan]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you're saying - OP was worried about Java jobs, maybe I wasn't clear, but I was just pointing out there are other jobs than Java jobs, and I concur Java isn't my first choice for anything, though the money can be good.