"Scala, good parts" - is classic mentioning in that pdf. I couldnt agree more on that. As a startup, we had burnt ours several times with the mix of people who had "scala-eye" and dont.
I hate SO for following hard rule that questions sometime are not fit and so called community sounds rude or questioner being punished for asking a question innocently. "Silicon Valley style" won't be accepted by every polite ones. I won't call it as a "community" as the ones build by open source ones.
Yes at the least to understand the values of such high level programming's productivity boost that you will miss. I always tell to my peers to learn different languages to understand what you miss in one or another. You can write well performing code if your design is right.
Completely agree what said in the post, it is also addiction and tiresome day makes one look for little bit chill in the mind. Beer definetly does it. Anyone has any thoughts on "rewarding yourself" other than one mentioned in the post are welcome