They say that choice of language doesn't matter, to just pick something you like and dive deep, but one doesn't really know the feel or pitfalls of a language until you dive deep into it for yourself. I think there's something to be said for using the tools that are already with you, like Bash + the Coreutils, BASIC, or C out of necessity, but I've found it easier to become immersed in higher-level and "ideologically opinionated" languages like Python, Ruby, and Lisp.

For me programming was something that started gradually as I became familiar with Bash, until in denial that I was programming at all. Ansible introduced me to Python, Jinja, and YAML, but I still didn't consider what I did to be programming. Scripting, but "I'm no programmer", just in a sysadmin rabbit-hole. I'll have impostor syndrome real bad.

Going back to Bash after working with Python was rough, and I've since delighted in learning new programming languages and paradigms as I solve my problem-of-the-week, gaining a new understanding and appreciation of how people can approach programming each time. The problems are trivial in retrospect, but feel significant at the time- each is an important stepping stone in the broader understanding of computing that I'm developing, as well as an excuse to get sucked into the syntax, ecosystem, and mental model of a new perspective. Perhaps I'll learn to delight in C someday too, but today I've found my stay in Lisp, and look forward to using purer functional languages in the future.

A background, and the perspective it gives a person, is a unique and special thing.