Do trends matter? At the end of the day, software is interesting for it's own sake, but not useful. If the goal is to create useful tools (i.e, a custom hammer for your particular nail), does it matter what language is used in their creation?
I was writing Haskell in 2011. I'm writing Haskell now. I'll keep writing Haskell until I find something I like better. I also write C++, Python, R, and a dozen other languages when the mood or the need strikes. Some of my favorite bits of software are written in Delphi or poorly hacked together C. They're closer to rocks than Estwings, but they do the job (and have done since the '90s).
There will always be trends. There will always be floods. Floods can take you interesting places, but having a well-sheltered hole or a firm grip on something solid is probably the better long-term solution if survivability is the goal. In the end, COBOL devs are worth more than ever.
Trends are the tides of culture, and I'd argue that culture matters overall. If you're using a lang/toolset that's widely out of fashion and also isn't widely used by slower moving institutions, you're the cultural equivalent of a monk in a mountainside monastery copying down texts for future generations: your work may hold cultural influence down the line, but for your lifetime, you're gonna be largely isolated and unappreciated unless you happen to get extremely lucky.
No, I'd still say that people in those circumstances are highly isolated from programming culture at-large. I'm not saying it's not a viable career, I'm saying it's sacrificing cultural relevance.
I was writing Haskell in 2011. I'm writing Haskell now. I'll keep writing Haskell until I find something I like better. I also write C++, Python, R, and a dozen other languages when the mood or the need strikes. Some of my favorite bits of software are written in Delphi or poorly hacked together C. They're closer to rocks than Estwings, but they do the job (and have done since the '90s).
There will always be trends. There will always be floods. Floods can take you interesting places, but having a well-sheltered hole or a firm grip on something solid is probably the better long-term solution if survivability is the goal. In the end, COBOL devs are worth more than ever.