When I started programming in Python several years ago, I liked it so much that I thought I wouldn’t work anywhere in the future that didn’t develop primarily using it. Now, my perspective has shifted.
Very little of my deliverable research output is Python code. Yet, I program in Python almost every day. Whether it’s writing a data filter, a parser with regular expressions, an optimization routine, a plotting utility … I have a growing library of personal software that I rely on heavily to get things done.
What I found is that as long as I am using Python to augment my workflows and solve odd problems, I can tolerate a lot of friction in other areas of my professional life. Using Python as my personal computational platform is a pressure valve in my toolchain. It’s enough to keep me happy.
This realization was incredibly freeing. It removes a massive constraint on potential work environments and sets me up to wield a powerful secret weapon in nearly any firm (design/software/research) in my discipline.
See also: The Python Paradox by Paul Graham and Python is a Voluntary Language by John D. Cook.