The "tool" decisions are usually made at the begining of a project.

In that context, I disagree with your assesment. It often takes me a week, sometimes more, to evaluate and choose the right solutions for a new product. The techniques that I use when coding matter little during that time.

What _does_ matter: third party services and libraries that will make it easier to build a better product.

However, I agree that choice of language is only tangially significant. It's rarely a "pain point" for me. Gui toolkits, cloud services, hosting solutions, payment solutions, libraries for [you name it], etc. _those_ make up the "tool for the job."