CockroachDB's choice to use Go as its programming language has proven effective, despite initial concerns about its suitability for building a high-performance distributed system. The decision came after weighing the options of C++, Java, and Go, with Java's performance issues and C++'s complexity making Go the most appealing choice. Go's features, such as its support for libraries, interfaces, and tooling, along with its simplicity and enforced code style, have facilitated the development of CockroachDB, even for developers new to the language. This has resulted in a robust open-source project with significant contributions and a primarily Go-based codebase. While performance profiling is ongoing, CockroachDB's experience suggests that Go has reduced memory footprint and garbage collection overhead compared to Java, and its attributes have enhanced code manageability and productivity.