Really? My experience is that while there are a number of high-end Java positions, and a number of Ruby positions in well-funded startups and such, there are VA

Really? My experience is that while there are a number of high-end Java positions, and a number of Ruby positions in well-funded startups and such, there are VAST numbers of Java positions for mediocre engineers and mediocre companies – no fault of the language, more of the niche it has found itself in. I'm not surprised at all to find that this drags the average salary down.