I suspect a lot of it is simply that it&#x27;s one of the first &quot;real&quot; programming languages taught in universities and trade schools. People who get into software engineering purely pragmatically (their parents told them they could make a lot of money) but have no passion for the art simply default to it.<p>It&#x27;s why I always ask about favorite programming language in engineer interviews. It&#x27;s not that there&#x27;s a right answer, but I do expect to hear some nuanced opinions. If the candidate says &quot;Java&quot; and then looks at me like I&#x27;m a little crazy for asking, I know they probably aren&#x27;t a good fit.