what fields are the c and c++ jobs in now days?

Question

I been programming in c++ for over 10 years now, it is my favorite programming language. I'm just a bit concerned that it's popularity is fading away, atleast in windows application development, because of c# and the .net framework. I'm not against c# or .net, I've actually program in those, and I'll admit, some things in c# and .net are easier to do than in c++. BUT, I really want to keep c++ as my primary language that I'm an an "expert" in. I may be weird, but I just find c++ fun to program in.

I been doing some research and finding that most c++ jobs out there are for embedded systems, atleast the ones I found, it may be because I'm looking in Huntsville AL. I'm not really job hunting because I'm very happy with my current job; but I just want to make sure the technology I'm using today is pretty "future proof".

The company I work for, we do document imaging and we have an encryption library. We have written a web server in c++, heck we have alot of libraries we're written over the years in c++. When we need a user interface we usually do it in MFC or make a web interface. We have converted some of our libraries into .net and written some user interfaces in c# using windows forms. All of our core libraries are c++ though.

What fields are you c++ programmers out there working in? Are you planning on staying with c++ are you're primary language of expertise? And you c++ programmers out there who are job searching, what fields are you finding demand for c++ in?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Scientific computing and 3D data visualization

In scientific computing, if you need performance and multi-platform (LINUX, lot of weird UNIXes + windows), C++ is the way to go as a higher-level alternative to the omnipresent FORTRAN. Furthermore, for GUI, using good multiplatform frameworks as Qt and graphics with OpenGL permit to run the same code everywhere.

As FORTRAN, C++ will stay there for legacy code for a long while, even if its not the flavor-of-the-day anymore.

Answer 2

People are still using C/C++ for embedded development (at least, that's where all my jobs have been), but even here, we're starting to see things like C# and Flash creeping in (at least for the gui's)...

Answer 3

I've seen most demand for C++ developers for mobile, desktop and various server-side stuff (video streaming for example).

Keep in mind that while the number of job positions for C++ may seem small in comparison with Java and .NET, the recruiters are having a really hard time to find C++ developers as well. So you shouldn't worry too much.

Answer 4

I'm not a programmer by profession, but use programming for problem solving (for some number crunching or data processing issues) whenever Excel is not enough… C++ is my language of choice because of the run-time performance that can be achieved. For my area, I don't see another viable option at the moment.

Another reason for me is that C++ is somewhat "cross platform". Obviously, you cannot run your program on another platform without some modification, but you can expect it can be done with some effort. Although C# may be a good platform, major investments in that direction are at risk due to possible future development of that ecosystem or your company strategy.

If you are 100% sure that you will keep things on Windows for a long time, you have to decide elsewise. In the UI area at least MS is clearly moving away from C++.

Answer 5

Game engine development. Notably high-end ones. But this usually means specific platform knowledge, and a specific frame of mind if you will.

Answer 6

There is still a lot of need for C++ in Finance. Although a lot more of the UI aspects are handled in C# or Java the performance critical stuff and models are frequently still in C++.

Answer 7

iPhone App Development

Answer 8

Right now I'm working on an office resource management app. Yes, the typical LOB program and I'm writing it in C++... The only thing I'm a bit annoyed at is the lack of a powerful ORM layer, I end up writing the DB access more or less by hand. C++ makes up for it with a powerful GUI library (Qt) and cross-platform capabilities.

I prefer using as few languages as possible on a project, ideally one, so I needed a language that could do pretty much everything, both high and low level, on any mainstream platform and fast. I intend to stick with C++, and use PHP or C# if there's a need for it.

I've seen openings in antivirus/security, CAD/CAM, imaging, GPS software (phones/embedded), gaming and so on.

Answer 9

Both are alive and well in the computer games industry. Though C++ tends to be more widely used than C.
Interestingly there's backlash starting in the games industry against the use of OOP and C++, particularly for high-performance runtime code. Albeit a small but high-profile group of developers have been presenting and blogging about this.
See Mike Acton's blog if you want to see what I mean! ( Off topic I know but still very interesting )

Answer 10

C/C++ are still very big in the embedded space, and I doubt you will see anything like C# in that space for a while, as C++ just recently entered embedded markets as a viable language.

Answer 11

I work in finance on trading technology, where performance is critical, and we therefore use C++. We do use C# on al frontend systems though.

Answer 12

Games, Embedded, iPhone, Legacy Systems