So, what language are you programming in?

It seems to be the one defining question for developers nowadays, at least from the outside. I have spent a lot of time at socializing events talking to all kinds of people about the Beschleuniger-concept lately. Usually when we've talked for a while and the person is interested this question gets asked. Often followed by "see, we currently do [ABC] and we are looking for someone with years of experience with that language and the field [XYZ]. So, what do you think about it?"

I always stumpled on that question. Could I tell a potential project partner that I think the programming language or technology they are using is bad match and doesn't (quite) fit their needs? Would he even hear the message or just think that I am just another programmer defending his most favourite language by goofing on other languages? That is not the impression I want to give. So what to tell him¹? For the first few times I said something useless and switched the topic. But that was very unsatisfying, so I sat down and looked deeper into this topic a few weeks ago.

And than it hit me: It doesn't matter. The language doesn't matter.