Java allows us, contrary to our poor colleagues in algo still on C++ to work in team, manage dependency, use really good tooling, unit test easily, have libraries that work consistently all across the universe (that's a beef I have with Python: every library seems to work differently with different casing and principles so I have to read enormous doc all the time bleh). It compiles fast enough, every monkey joining has done enough Java at university to get started, and it prunes all the autists who love complex one-liners and attract people more into team work and well-organized simple stuff. As for profiling, I still have to meet a C++ colleague with a good efficient profiler in my company, while us monkeys in Java (C# is great too tbh) can just run a graphical profiler, click on 3 buttons, and find what's not optimal.
Java isn't a language for the elite. And while the elite crashes the system and lose millions in 30 minutes, us dumbasses in Java can build and release with good tools without using bin patches that remove critical features :)
You'll see when you start working. Every company is a shitshow, better be in a Java shitshow with slow idiots than in a C++ shitshow with autist geniuses :D
You don't have to pay a license, but it's starting to get blurry. My giant company is phasing out Oracle's JVM and moving to OpenJDK, so there's that...