Someone has to program those embedded systems. The skills are not readily taught in schools and universities as all the emphasis is placed on business information systems and applications programming. There are always jobs for good embedded systems programmers and the pay is very good.

Java has always been number 1 for a long time and C is number 2. Just very recently, C# has just replaced C++ for the number 3 position.

The only problem I see with .NET, C#, VB is that these languages are only found in Microsoft shops on Microsoft Windows servers. There is still a lot of open source being used a lot, i.e., LAMP, Java, etc. I don’t think it is a good idea to restrict yourself to Microsoft products only.

Because of that, I will recommend that you register for a Masters Programmer in Computer Science and that you spend the next 2 years obsessing over the C/C++ Language …

Let as much as you can about these topics and then start sending your resume around to the companies that hire game programmers

The future is what you make out of it …

Best Wishes

And what’s the future

Thanks.

I have around 12 years of experience in C++.

Now I am thinking of trying a another language.

I know C++ and Java tend to be more similar.

I do want to be learning the one that is more in demand. I am thinking of maybe .NET area.

Whats your suggestion?

Thanks

thank you,

If you want to learn C/CX++, just learn it and if you really want to learn Java, then just go and learn Java!

Don’t waste your time by chasing rabbits for a living … do what you love immediately and directly and don’t put up unnecessary false steps or obstacles in the way … that is just another form of procrastination!

You need to learn a computer programming language that is in-demand by corporations or organizations and that more marketable programming language is C# (.NET Framework and ASP.NET).

I would not recommend that you switch your career to Networking because that would require you to start your career from scratch. Starting from scratch means that you are guaranteed to earn less money anyway!

Also, your C/C++ background is more relevant to a computer programming career than an Information Security / Network Administration career.

Learning C# would be a better career move because you will be able to reuse your knowledge of programming and because your resume will look right to a hiring manager.

If you start from scratch in Networking, it would be hard to come by the required Networking experience but if you just learn a new programming language, it will be easier for you o transfer some of your current C/C++ programming skills.

Here are two (2) assignments for you:

Look into the number of C#/VB.NET/ASP.NET/.NET Framework Jobs versus the number of Network Admin / Information Security Jobs.
Look into the salary of C#/VB.NET/ASP.NET/.NET Framework Programmers versus the salary of Network Admin / Information Security Professionals.

I have little exposure (3 months work ex) to programming in Android iphone and Java.

I don’t make much money as an Programmer employee for past 5 years.

My Colleague stated that i need to swicth to Networking line and have to become Information security engineer to make more money.

This is new field. I am confused whether to stay in programming or switch to new field ( Network admin/information security).

Please help.

The reason why management nowadays steer away from C++ (never mind C) is because the modern programming languages like C# and Java Netbeans, etc are

1) easier to learn and hopefully maintain.
2) faster to built applications since extensive libraries including GUI and framework are given.
3) easier to hire additional developer or find-in-place of or replace developers for a given project due to reason number 1.

Software is a product and it’s suppose to be release quickly so it hopefully can generate profit via sales and constant income from support (maintaince programming..again point 1 above). They don’t care if C++ is a nice or not. If your software was written in english language and it works well, so be it.

Only reason why management will still look for C++ or even C programmers are :

1) specialty on coding device drivers, etc or obviously speed
2) maintaince of legacy code, especially huge ones (that’s why bloomberg emphasizes C++ in technical interviews due to their millions of C/C++ and fortran code.. Yes they maintain fortran code!)

Not to mention that if you are a C/C++ software developer, you BETTER know your stuff, else you will shoot yourself on your foot with the language… however stale this saying is. Take it from someone who consider himself to be quite proficient and had seen people whom think they know C++ for 10 years, but bomb an indept C++ technical test due to the dark corners. Not to mention you have different compilers on different platforms or variation of unix that will throw different warning or even errors when the C++ code is the same. Some might argue this is a compiler issue..but still.. you have to manually port it to different platforms when in say C# you have CLR to do that.

Even if the company wants C++, they will probably want it to be coupled with QT since C++ itself does not have a GUI library and QT provides both GUI and extensive cross platform libraries.

It also takes a C++ guru to do multithreaded and built a complex software architecture, but it takes a mediocre programmer to do multithreaded programming in Java or C# since it has built-in libraries that are cross platformed and does everything for you.

So from this it seems like if you are a C++ guru, you should be highly respected. Yes, I agree so because people who done it for 10 years can still be learning it as it takes time to master this language. Plus, once you are a guru, unless you are opinionated or just stuck in your own way, I can guarantee you can pick up any language quite fast as C++ not only is multiparadigm but also as indept knowledge to understand it. I can’t guarantee the other way around due to C++’s mysterious corners (pointers, auto_ptrs, virtual tables, etc)

It’s also because of this, they are VERY HIGHLY PAID, if they are known to be very good since they are a rarity (a diamond in the rough.) This is the point where I believe Career Coach is wrong regarding how they aren’t as highly paid. The aren’t highly paid ones are either in the non-finance industry or they are only average C++ programmers. The VERY highly paid ones are the super C++ coders and the financial industry needs them..thus they earn at a MINIMUM of $120k (not including bonuses!)

But do I think C++ is bad for your career? No. I believe C++ has good fundamental and is good for your career as you learn indept understanding of something instead of taking things at face value which Java and C# do sometimes. BUT it should NOT and CANNOT be the only language you know on your resume due to the reasons I mentioned early above.

But all in all, it’s not the language honey because language can change. It’s knowing Design Patterns and software architecture design that is important as that’s more consistent and you can use whatever language to do software architecture. I can go on about it..but this comment is too long!.

A little background so that whatever I will mentioned here will be taken somewhat seriously. I’m a senior/lead software engineer with 10 years experience coding mostly in C and C++ and Java and dabbled a bit on other languages..I also sat down with software architectures and upper management for projects so I know how they think.

Thanks for the feedback. A lot of business managers have also made the decision to move away from using C/C++ as a software development tool or platform.

So, it seems that both developers and IT Managers are trending towards using less and less of C/C++.

Also, a good number of the features found in C/C++ is now incorporated into Rapid Application Development programming languages like C# (CSharp).

yes, low level programming is the hardest part in programming language, it is very painful, those binary tree, stack logic, etc..

it is only useful for building os, device driver, games, software that really want to hit directly to the hardware, robotic

First of all a lot of thanks for providing very useful career information related to C++.

I am new to this blog and I find it is very useful.

As you mentioned that from the current market point of view, Java, C#, Visual Basic .NET or PHP etc are more in use and a lot of jobs are available in these programming languages compared to C++.

On the basis of my experience, i want to share my view.

1. For your long term career, C++ will be very useful. From your short term career, money making point of view these languages(Java,VB ..) are good.

2. Today’s market is very competitive, so we should have a very good base of skills. If you know c++ very well, just put more effort and you will be easily proficient in another language too.

3. As you mentioned above, that job ratio is very good in other languages (Java, VB..) compared to C++. The question is, will it remain the same? I can not say.

4. From a career point of view you should be very strong in your basic skill sets. We can not decide only on the basis of the current market demand and we should also maintain the capability to change according to the market which C++ programmers can do easily.

5. Can another programmer become proficient in a new language compared to C++ progammers?

6. What about image processing and other emerging fields; most of the scientific calculations or research directly or indirectly use C++

All you need to become a competent Windows Software Developer is a strong understanding or skills in C# or Visual Basic .NET along with SQL Server.

You should also limit the number of new languages you are trying to learn, hence don’t worry about Oracle or Perl or MFC or COM or ATL until you become an expert at these few: C#, Visual Basic .net AND sql server!

I am a software programmer and I am having a fair knowledge of C++ programming on windows.

Little bit of VC++ knowledge along with visual basic knowledge.

I am looking forward to work in a big multinational knowledge.

Please advice me what to learn in addition(perl, sql, oracle etc) and which part of vc++ to specialise in (MFC, COM, ATL etc).

Thanks,

Jade

If you are a guy who is very serious about life and has that burning desire for success, who doesn’t care for happiness and only cares about money and success go with C++.

C++ is toughest language. Once i learnt all of C++ i thought i know everything until i got obliterated in the technical interviews.

This is not the case in JAVA. No doubt C++ is the father programming language. But there are easier ways to make money.

Finally its all about whether you care about the mean or the end result.

I care about the end result not the mean. So i have like half knowledge of c++, java, asp, php etc. If i don’t land a C++ job so what? I got php and asp for BACK UP.

1. Learning Curve: it has a steeper learning curve than other popular, commercial programming languages like Java, C#, Visual Basic .NET or PHP

2. Time to Market: It is not suitable for business application development because it takes more time to build a web application (an e-commerce web application for example) in C/C++ than in PHP or C# or Visual Basic .NET

3. Support Costs: It is easier to maintain Visual Basic .NET or C# or PHP Applications than it is to maintain C/C++ Applications because it has a steeper learning curve and because it takes longer to build C/C++ Applications

4. Market Demand – The demand is right now for business application development (wesbsites, desktop software, web applications) and C/C++ programmers are not usually hired for such projects.

5. Compensation – A C/C++ programmer still has to specialize in a market like systems programming or device programming or game programming to earn a living. They can’t just freelance any of the well known programming markets or through the regular recruiters because there is little demand for their skills. So, they tend to be compensated poorly or even find it hard to get jobs!

This is just a summary of some of the issues that they are facing … I do coach or consult with a whole suite of programmers and i can see the issues that they are facing at their careers from 30,000 feet … I suggest that you read the rest of my article to get the full gist of my points.

Thanks for your contribution and your view point … I respect that!

All the biggest companies you could think of use C++ as the main programming language.

Business applications is everything you named, video games, databases..all that…

All the programs need speed. Tell me a program that doesn’t need speed, im talking about Business programs.

C++ is not only the best language to use but it is also the cleaner.
The OOP classes is so powerful and makes codes cleaner. Which means, saves time for development and stuff.

Would you like to look into a 900 000 line of codes stinky code? No, i don’t think any programmer would be happy. That’s why most of the programmers use C++ nowadays.

The people who use java or any other small programming languages compared to c++ are using it just to get a small job that pays around 20$/hour.

Alot of c++ programmers i know are getting payed 140$/hour in private jobs.

Trust me, if you ask a java programmer to do a program, and a c++ programmer to do the same program, It will be done in the same amount of time. And, c++ programmers think logically compared to java programmers who use already made functions and codes.

Great article, but alot of informations are wrong.

I’m glad for you that you get 1 or 2 job offers per month. It’s really relative.

Here is food for thought … A good pr competent ASP.NET programmer gets one to two job offers per day … how is that for comparison?

Go to Craigslist and do a search in your city for C/C++ jobs versus ASP.NET + C# + VB.NET + .NET FRAMEWORK Jobs and let me know what you find.

Thanks for your contribution

And if C++ is so bad, tell me, why do I get about 1 or 2 job offers via networking sites per month?

Is there something wrong with me?