A lot of this is common sense to me. I've seen the C++ part play out in practice many times. C++ is an easy example because it requires a lot of effort and time

A lot of this is common sense to me. I've seen the C++ part play out in practice many times. C++ is an easy example because it requires a lot of effort and time investment in order for someone to be truly good at it. The same is not true for Javascript, Python, Ruby and so on which is why people have a way more relaxed attitude ping-ponging (or chasing the next shiny thing that comes along) amongst them. The way it usually happens is that a smart person who has made big multi-year investments and climbed the proficiency ladder crumbles into narrow-mindedness and rigidity of thought when one points out to him that the language he's extremely good at is a bad fit for the problem at hand. If an attempt is made to solve it, with C++, that later turns out bad, the situation gets even worse. I've seen people lash out at everyone around them, using any excuse they can find so that they can keep a consistent worldview in their minds, so that their model doesn't come apart. To question the foundations of one's knowledge is a hard thing to do, especially when it leads to iconoclastic outcomes. The vast majority of people I've encountered in personal and professional life would do anything to stay in their own manufactured reality bubbles rather than deal with cognitive dissonance. Engineers are as prone to this as any other group I've ever come across.