I, as a single Perl (and regex, and VBA -- laugh all you want) programmer, have done things for which an EDS contract was ruled out by a major institution becau

I, as a single Perl (and regex, and VBA -- laugh all you want) programmer, have done things for which an EDS contract was ruled out by a major institution because it (and however much in terms of resources and expense it would entail) would be "too expensive". (Instead, they chose to continue "throwing people" -- full-time staff -- at the problem. Use that as a measure of just how expensive that prospective EDS work was considered to be.) The language, or its aficionado -- either way, specific technologies have made me, in my own estimation, multiple factors more productive. Yes, there's the learning curve, and understanding things that are not explicitly stated line by line throughout the code. But then, there's getting shit done. Unfortunately, a lot of people, processes, and institutions get hung up at the sentence before last of that previous paragraph. I also turned other people onto some useful technologies, such as pointing a consultant at some reporting software that my department didn't want to spring for but for which -- of course -- the outside consultant had budget. I heard from her a month or two later that it had greatly eased things and turned her into a sort of reporting superhero. Throughout my career, I've seen people who, both on their own as well as through dint of better technology awareness and selection, have been multiple factors more productive than their coworkers. And yes, often they are fighting the trend and significant inertia, rather than being embraced.