Being a language expert.

As part of my journey back into the world of software engineering I got thinking about what make a good candidate. Its obvious that a lot of hiring is done based on the person you are considering doing the same job as the role rather than the best candidate but also what is the fascination with being the world expert in a particular language?

I know Java, I'm not particularly great at it but do know enough that I have been able to solve any problems that I've needed to... so shouldn't that be enough.

It reminds me of a C test I was asked to look at a while back to help with the recruitment of additional team members for a team I belonged to. It had one of those what would the macro "**(b+s)+++b*(c+a)" type things so for a give value. Well I said I didn't know, wouldn't expect anyone two and if they used it it any code than I would rather they weren't on my team.

You see I want and feel the best approach (as with most engineering solutions) so to have the simplest solution. The compiler knows how to do things as fast and efficiently far more than you do so write simple solutions and let the compiler do its job.

Anyway it looks like the company I'm looking for a job at is going to pay for me to learn Java to a level I will never likely need to I'm happy as the ends can sometimes justify the means ;)