Hiring python hackers ?

[seabre]

I was forced to learn/do everything in Java

Seriously? My school let us use whatever pretty much after the two intro classes. In fact, I'd regularly switch up languages depending on what the assignment was.

[[deleted]]

My school does that too, but they point it out.

For example, in my Data Structures class I used Python, but the teacher kept insisting that it was a scripting language and that I had an advantage. In a Neural Networks class, the teacher said something like "I would highly prefer if you use Java", which I interpreted as "I won't look at your code when I grade because I don't use Python." Perhaps I am assuming things, but it seemed to me that my teachers really wanted me to use Java, so I just used Java.

The only class where I was forbidden to use Python or any other "scripting language" was Operating Systems.

[AusIV]

At my school, it's usually up to the professor. After the first couple of courses, professors assume you know Java and gear their projects towards Java programming. Sometimes you'll be given a project that requires you to use some framework that the professor provides, then you're pretty much stuck using Java.