We've found it tough to hire elixir engineers because there just aren't that many but we're really happy with the tech choice none the less. We're quite a small engineering team and managing to support a global platform and build out new functionality at a really great pace even with our small team. We don't require elixir experience, just an interest or desire to work in it full time. We're forunate that we have a good pool of senior elixir engineers who've been using it for several years so we have a good codebase for people to learn from.
So from our side, we're not working on any "ground breaking new technology", we're just building something rock solid that offers a lot of value to partners and fans vs the competition. For the record we're super happy with our choice of Elixir!
I have seen a bunch of blockchain companies hiring elixir engineers over the past year or so, I suspect quite a few of elixir engineers are working in those startups as well.
I’ve noticed quite a few healthcare startups using Elixir (and also others using Ruby/Rails and Python/Django). For someone long interested in the healthcare space, this is a welcome change from PHP/Java/.NET that have been used by some of the more entrenched players.
Location-wise, aside from SF/NYC, a lot of Elixir shops are springing up in “hipster” areas like Columbus (where I live), Austin, Denver, and Utah.