They also pay a fraction of what the jobs "hip" companies pay, and often come along with developers Being treated as second-class citizens.

Is that true, or are you inadvertently comparing the cost of living between SF and other major cities?

Hip technologies are being used in SV, and they have to pay tons of money just to keep the talent pool large and circulating.

Older technologies are used in other cities, and there the market forces aren't so crazy.

But a good Java dev can make plenty of money in SV, and a Go developer will make a competitive salary by Dallas standards but not by SV standards (and probably have a harder time finding a new job).

I am currently working in NYC (living in NJ), with a total comp that is more than 3X what I was making when I left Dallas. Based on the market there, I would still probably be making 40% of what I do now had I stayed, and the company would not have been as good.

For the record, I have been using a JVM language as my primary work language since early 2012.

Lots of hip companies use the JVM, and sometimes, Java.

Not according to itjobswatch.co.uk where Java/Spring roles fetch top rates. Same with Indeed.co.uk so which job market are you referring to?

It’s not so simple. For eg if your skill set is in demand you can easily trade up to a better company than if it wasn’t. This is true in my own career. Also the bar to entry would be lower. So for this reason if you’re breaking in right now learning React is better than learning Spring.

Yes exactly my point. Go lookup salaries.