I quote: "if your first language is Java, you learned it in school, because that's what they taught—you didn't yearn for anything more". That's language prudis

I quote: "if your first language is Java, you learned it in school, because that's what they taught—you didn't yearn for anything more". That's language prudishness, right there. I also find your assertion that if someone learns PHP as a first language they're likely to end up a "better" programmer than someone who learns Java as a first language absurd. There are good schools teaching Java, and smart, inquisitive people studying it. Many of the best programmers I know still use Java for pretty much everything since it allows them to get their jobs done. Some know other languages, some don't. It's a purely pragmatic choice, but to say that those people would not be valuable to a startup is crazy. Maybe the process you use when interviewing is good enough to separate these people from others who really don't know how to program, but it seems like they're going to be starting at a significant disadvantage if you're interviewing them.