[deleted]
The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
391–400 of 869 posts
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've wondered why embedded tends to pay lower. C++ (and C) tend to be 'harder' languages for the average mainstream developer, particularly web developers. I guess I expect embedded jobs to pay more, yet they don't and like you said, pay less. But why is that?
I started as an embedded software engineer in the early 90's, and at the time there were lots of well paying jobs compared to other software engineering diciplines. In the 2ks/10's, at least in my area, embedded jobs dried up. Mobile development produced a lot of very high performance SoCs that were cheap, and had high quality already developed middleware layers (Android for instance). They sort of conquered a lot of…
Yea, I moved from embedded to mobile (iOS) development pretty quickly. Similar problems/constraints but the tooling was an order of magnitude better. No more cobbling together non-working cross-compilers from some vendor's crappy BSP and praying they produced binaries that worked.
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#393I’ll offer a perspective unrelated to pay: It’s a pain to start learning C++, and even after you do, older devs will roast the hell out of your code because your book/tutorials of choice forgot to mention a crucial (in their opinion) feature that you absolutely should/shouldn’t use! Not to mention you’ve only programmed on Mac/Linux so far & windows is totally different, has a different compiler, different ways to in…
There's also the opposite problem: older devs will use outdated features and have best practices in place that are now considered antipatterns. This exacerbates the existing difficulties to modernize legacy code bases and creates incentives to not do so. New devs are forced to learn C++ from 20 years ago which is much worse than modern C++.
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
But why? Why not be an proficient Python developer and make the same compensation[0] with better docs, better libraries, better codebases, no compilation annoyances[1], easier to read code, and fewer not-defined-by-the-spec weirdness? C++ would have to pay 4x what Python pays for me to even consider doing it again. It literally makes me sad when I write software in it. Especially the libraries. [0] Mid-six digits as…
> Mid-six digits as an IC is very doable in North America. No, it's not. Some people who read this comment probably do make that, and it's great, but it's not the norm. You have to be exceptional to get there.
I've been there?
It's very doable and far easier than understanding C++ in my opinion.
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#395c++ will be replaced by Carbon or D and rust and others
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#396I’ll offer a perspective unrelated to pay: It’s a pain to start learning C++, and even after you do, older devs will roast the hell out of your code because your book/tutorials of choice forgot to mention a crucial (in their opinion) feature that you absolutely should/shouldn’t use! Not to mention you’ve only programmed on Mac/Linux so far & windows is totally different, has a different compiler, different ways to in…
IME the nature of C++ attracts smug trivia experts more than typical softeng. Skilled, yes, but unhelpful.
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m building a house at the moment and I have been insisting that I am able to actually test all the built in appliances with power to see if the software is garbage. I have found that most of the high end brands have a completely horrible user experience. Miele is the worst I’ve tried, and I found that as you go up the price range even inside that brand the experience gets worse. The top end Miele induction cooktop…
Slightly off topic but imagine an induction cooker with the original iPod control wheel as it's power control. We opted for a gas hob when we installed our kitchen. Mostly because I like the controllability when cooking. Obviously it's a nightmare for health and the environment but man it makes cooking easier.
Touch controls on induction cooktops/hobs are almost ubiquitous, and they have extremely poor usability in my experience. Liquids cause problems, and you need to be very careful not to move a pan or any utensils over the controls, or brush against them while concentrating on cooking. Apart from the other awful usability issues with the UI or icons.
I did a survey of all the cooktops/hobs I could find in my city, looking for something that would suit my elderly mum, and I didn’t find a single unit that was usable. Fortunately a salesperson knew of a recently developed “cheap” model from a noname brand, which had individual knobs, so I ordered that, it arrived an month ago so I got it installed, and it has worked very well for my mum.
Usability is not something that most people know to look for when making purchases, so most whiteware ends up with a hideous UI. People will buy shit, then complain, but it doesn’t change their future purchasing habits (e.g. looking for features, especially useless features!)
I bought a middling brand microwave with knobs that has reasonable usability, despite providing all features. The iPhone is another possible counterexample, although I fucking hate many of their usability decisions (remove all multi-tasking shit from my iPad - I only ever initiate it by mistake and I always struggle to revert my mistake - fucking floating windows and split windows and fucking ... at top of the screen).
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#398If this was true, salaries would be way up. Are they? Not from what I can tell. I recently switched to a web dev role and didn't have the impression that demand for my (imho considerable) C++ skills was crazy high.
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#399I was a C++ programmer for 25 years. Last 3 years, I'm using Rust language in my daily job and for all my hobby projects. I will not return to work in C++ again. No money can make me to change my decision. Nowadays, programming is a pure joy for me again. This was not the case when I had to work with C++.
I've drank C++'s kool aid. I believe in the vision and think of everything in C++ terms.
...I think I could last about 3 months in another language before I'd forgotten too much to go back.
Re: The pool of talented C++ developers is running dry
#400> However, only 9.3% of respondents used Rust at all and only 8.8% did so professionally. C++, meanwhile, languished at 48%.
I mean... it sounds like there's a lot of C++ programmers?
I guess the problem is that "talented" C++ programmers are rare. But... "talented programmers" in general are rare.