Java is a fine language, and the JVM is a powerful environment that enables some really cool things - Kotlin and Scala prime among them. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if we are past peak Java/JVM in terms of new projects and developer mindshare. Java was an excellent tool for a world where ecosystems were rather self-contained, lots of code had to be written in-house, and source code distribution platforms and good tooling for cross-language development weren’t nearly as prevalent. A developer could basically do everything they needed in Java, unless they needed super-performant code, in which case they’d drop to C/C++.

The proliferation of great new languages, stellar package managers, and comprehensive tooling have reduced the need for a single, do-it-all language. Now, there are a wide variety of languages that are better fit for specific domains (I.e. Go is very good for small services, python is good for data science and prototyping, rust is good for system programming, typescript is good for Frontend, etc), and the barrier to entry for all of those languages in a professional environment is lowering (if not already low). To me, this means that the next generation of developers will be versed in several of these more domain-specific languages, rather than spend their career working with a single language. Java may well be one of these languages, but I see a possibility that it will gradually fade out of mainstream greenfield development. Of course, the world is now built on the JVM so it will stay for a very long time, but maybe not for new projects.