any developer worth her salt jumps at the chance to learn a new language on the company dime I would agree with that sentiment. Another way to put it is I woul

any developer worth her salt jumps at the chance to learn a new language on the company dime I would agree with that sentiment. Another way to put it is I would prefer not to be on a team with a developer that wouldn't do that. Still, I also think competence can be relative. There are lots of developers who prefer to stick with one thing. They usually cost less and are more likely to stick around long term. They can be experts in their domain (even if it is limited to 1 or 2 languages). There's something to be said about someone who is content (or ignorant) to have their career stagnate for years working with older technology and projects that keep the company running. Personally, I'm of the opinion that it's important to keep up with the times, but if you have a requirement for that sort of thing those developers can be the workhorses on projects that some other developers wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. They can also mean certain disaster if you hire a bunch of them for your fast-moving startup.