Personally, the first version of python I used was 1.5.2 (in 1999). I learned it initially instead of the current 'scripting language' hegemon, which was perl. Since CGI was in extensive use at that time, this was the start of the python web backend ecosystem.

In the late 2000s, I was able to sneak in Python rewrites of MATLAB or Fortran code written by scientists, even in situations where Python was not officially sanctioned for that type of work (I was mainly a C++ developer, but would also write python bindings). I feel like it really was the strength of python's strength as a universal ducktape that caused the ecosystem growth of both the scientific _and_ web stacks.

Nowadays, I've really come to appreciate Julia from a novelty standpoint, and I'm intrigued at what it can do, especially in terms of probabilistic programming and other emerging fields, but in order to justify using Julia in more general 'professional programmer' settings, it needs to focus on what's made modern Python so successful. Otherwise, I could see it's fate as "merely" replacing a more niche language like MATLAB (which Python has /already/ managed to do for the most part).