Got an offer from a company that was an upgrade from my current in almost every way (comp, commute, office, engineering team health), but the only downside is they use Apex. Is this a dead end? Can I grow my career as a general SWE through developing with Apex as well? My current company uses interesting technologies and has a stack that I like, but it's not doing well in retaining talent, so I've had to switch teams a lot. Offer: 130k base (compared to my current 100k TC) with some equity but it's a private company YOE: 1.5
It's an upgrade in everyway including pay, take the offer just because you're working on a "dead end" stack doesn't mean you magically give up time to focus on other stacks on your free time.
Best way to gain expertise is on the job. Free time isn’t a viable solution. Keep looking for a better role.
Apex / Salesforce tech will damage you for life
Go for it.
Why do you think I should take it?
Your only reason to not like it is the Apex which is more similar to Java and you are not going behind in anyways. Just try to learn that and focus on micros services on the side.