There are several points here where, I think, you share what recruiters think about my resume. I'll comment with my vision of the situation.
> Does his 10 years experience in java directly translate to being a senior/expert person in any other language?
Yes, it does. Given a Python project, I spent half of the first day (literally, half a day) using Google in parallel with coding to find some syntax-specific things out. I.e. how to declare an empty map, how to declare and use a lambda, how to throw/catch an exception, how None is handled, etc. After this half a day, the difference between me and your Python hacker is 5 times less compared to what it was before. Add a week of Python coding and I'll be familiar 90% of most used libraries or a framework you use. My capacity to write a Dijkstra algorithm from scratch, on the other hand, stays with me forever.
Having said that, I understand that if assigned to a Haskell project, for example, I'll have some harder time, of course. Python is just really simple.
With this regards I like Google interviews the most. They take essentially the same approach: choose the language you like to solve our problems, we'll be testsing you for some more serious things anyway.
> Developing Java for 10 years at the same company and the exact same project
Not sure how I made this impression: I worked in 4 companies throughout those 10 years, in very different Java projects.
> I will honestly say that really doesn't make him qualified to be a senior level person on an iphone/android/something/anything development team.
It's too bad you don't have a chance to interview me and compare to your senior iOS guy, really.
> Does his 10 years experience in java directly translate to being a senior/expert person in any other language?
Yes, it does. Given a Python project, I spent half of the first day (literally, half a day) using Google in parallel with coding to find some syntax-specific things out. I.e. how to declare an empty map, how to declare and use a lambda, how to throw/catch an exception, how None is handled, etc. After this half a day, the difference between me and your Python hacker is 5 times less compared to what it was before. Add a week of Python coding and I'll be familiar 90% of most used libraries or a framework you use. My capacity to write a Dijkstra algorithm from scratch, on the other hand, stays with me forever.
Having said that, I understand that if assigned to a Haskell project, for example, I'll have some harder time, of course. Python is just really simple.
With this regards I like Google interviews the most. They take essentially the same approach: choose the language you like to solve our problems, we'll be testsing you for some more serious things anyway.
> Developing Java for 10 years at the same company and the exact same project
Not sure how I made this impression: I worked in 4 companies throughout those 10 years, in very different Java projects.
> I will honestly say that really doesn't make him qualified to be a senior level person on an iphone/android/something/anything development team.
It's too bad you don't have a chance to interview me and compare to your senior iOS guy, really.