You must be a frontend or mobile developer. On the server side using five year old tech is the mark of a proactive and daring company. Our code depends on Python 2.7 (released in 2010) and we still have to compile our own CPython every time we deploy on servers managed by the client.

This is less and less true in the new and excited cloud/devops world, for better or worse. There are plenty of companies that even on the server side are chasing the latest release cycle.

I wish I could upvote you more - spot on!

I can see your viewpoint, but I have to say that trying to keep up with the tooling treadmill has many tradeoffs.

If there is a new framework or tool to know about every few months and you change job every three, you will be spending all your time re-learning some strange new wheel and taking energy away from truly excelling at your current tool set.

On top of that, if we chase the carrot of technology we will always be using tools that are less than a few years old. In otherwords, un-tested by time and immature code bases without useful ecosystems and best practices.

RiotJS for example, there is a way it's designed to be used, and it is idealogicaly sound. But also naive. That way will evolve a lot over time as even just a small project revealed a dozen or so pain points to solve, that haven't yet been addressed by the community.

But working on an older codebase, communities have usually solved a lot of those problems with process or ammendments, and there is a wealth of information available.

So use 6 month old tech because you need to keep up with the cool kids who are hiring for that new tech specifically? Hamstring your current company in order to stay on top of tech/framework trends?

There's a middle ground - don't upgrade systems for the sake of upgrading, but maybe if you're building something new or working on a sideproject, investigate newer technologies.

If you're going for a permanent job, sure, you're largely tied to what is advertised.

If you're going for consulting gigs, no problem: Focus on selling solutions rather than specifics. Then afterwards offer up a solution based on new tech, and offer up a better alternative and explain how it solves their problems better.

The secret is to try to be a polyglot, not just get yourself into a silo, and also build up on people skills.

Many companies don't bother one cannot use the very latest fad, but you can demonstrate proficiency in soft skills, for example.

Say that to Cobol devs.

If you do, say it loudly or they might not hear you.