> If i guy came telling me that he wanted to program only in, say, Java because that’s what he knows best and that he doesn’t really feel prepared or interested

> If i guy came telling me that he wanted to program only in, say, Java because that’s what he knows best and that he doesn’t really feel prepared or interested in learning and using, say, Clojure (or any other language, really), i wouldn’t hire him in a million years Between JSF, JSP, JMS, JPA, JTA, JCA, JMX, JNA, servlets, SecurityManager, AWT/Swing, and countless other frameworks and technologies, Java is so big that it would take an entire career to become an expert. I think it's reasonable for someone who has invested a lot of their career in getting experience in some of these things to want to continue working in Java rather than let those skills go fallow.