[emidln]

The only times I see this argued is from suits looking to treat programmers as a fungible resource. This is never a problem for companies looking to retain people.

If your status quo is working programmers as long as you can without a raise until they switch jobs, a niche language is a threat. If you re-evaluate your staff based on their experience gained, you can head off the churn.

[neathack]

I think this is too harsh. A company can establish an enjoyable and empowering culture, that attracts and supports talented developers — and can still try to avoid hiring obstacles at the same time. It might not have been what therealmarv meant in his post, but your comment makes it sound mutually exclusive.

As a counter-argument: I've experienced several times that "niche tech" companies offered non-competitive salary packages and perks, because they offered the cool tech instead; "sure, we can't match that other offer, but we built our stack on that language/tech that is so hot right now".

Not arguing about the quality of Elixir, just about the gatekeeping that happens in this thread.