There’s a stigma with .NET in general. I not an ABM-er, in fact, I’m a .NET developer. The attitude is that the more technically saavy people have moved on to something else: Go, Python, Kotlin..something. It don’t know that it’s actually true. VB.NET has an even worse stigma, as VB is still associated with development before .NET. (asp, COM, VB6). Microsoft has been working very hard to shed the stigma it has as being Windows only and fading from relevance. It has had some success, but I believe getting rid of VB.NET is more PR than anything.