[mike_k]

This is also very in sync with the The Python Paradox[1] article by Paul Graham.

You have (had in that case) a better chance hiring someone passionate/talented if the technology is (was) not very mainstream.

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/pypar.html

[rahimnathwani]

Wow, from Aug 2004: "And people don't learn [Python] because it will get them a job; they learn it because they genuinely like to program and aren't satisfied with the languages they already know."

What would be today's equivalent? Elixir? Rust?

[mike_k]

Elixir seems to be quite pragmatic choice despite being a niche tool (most Erlang OTP pros and cons are is still there).

Rust has already passed point of no return by gaining so much support (and hype) in the industry. I almost feel like it can hurt it. Too many articles here like "Some_random_foo implemented in Rust" look almost as "How some_random_bar will be revolutionized with blockchain."

So a good equivalent to that article's Python example is something simple, not very bloated that people might enjoy for rapid prototyping or for side projects. And at the same time not popular enough to have an army of newcomers or hundreds of "boring" jobs. Various FP languages set the bar to high to match these criteria. If there is such a language now, we'll know that for sure in 10 years.