This talk shares the experience of building a web application in two functional languages: Clojure and Elixir. By looking at how each language shaped the architecture, tooling choices, and development workflow, we'll explore how different design philosophies show up in real-world projects. From Clojure's flexible, minimalist stack to Elixir's cohesive, real-time web framework, the talk highlights moments where the developer experience felt smooth—or surprising. Rather than drawing conclusions, it offers a perspective on how language design can subtly shape the way we approach building software.