Exactly. A programming language need not be large and complicated in order to be well-suited for advanced applications. Senior engineers also appreciate simple and easy-to-use tools. It's human nature.

Rob Pike et al. aren't the first to appreciate simple and easy-to-use programming languages. Back in the 1970s, the late Per Brinch Hansen advocated for such a language (Edison). Niklaus Wirth in the 1980s advocated for the same (Oberon).

I've been a software engineer since the early 1980s. I've used all the "hard" languages (Fortran, C++, C#, Java, etc.). However, my current love is Smalltalk. It is so blessedly simple and easy-to-use, and yet so versatile and powerful and, most importantly, productive. I love this language to pieces.

IMHO, Smalltalk is a damn sight simpler and easier-to-use than Python, Go, Elixir, and just about any other language you can name.

Check out this article for how supremely productive Smalltalk can be: https://levelup.gitconnected.com/mmxxii-year-long-celebrations-for-smalltalk-bed82541b7db.