Thread: is C/C++ programming career is promising?

  1. #1
    Registered User Ind007's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    India
    Posts
    4

    is C/C++ programming career is promising?

    Hi All,

    I am in dilemma in deciding to go with Linux/Unix programming ( comfortable with C/C++)
    Or settle as a web developer (Skills: PHP, PERL and Javascript and planning to learn JAVA)

    Currently working as QA

    Any suggestions ?

  2. #2
    Ethernal Noob
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Posts
    1,901
    I don't know much about the market, but I have a feeling I should really jump back into the "enterprise" languages I've neglected so far.

  3. #3
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    There are SO many factors that will affect the "correct" decision.

    When you say you are in QA, is that in a software related role? Have you been writing any production quality code?

    I find that learning languages is less of the task than learning "how to program" - whilst both are important, a new language can be picked up quite quickly. Learning how to do programming in general is much a longer task.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  4. #4
    Registered User Ind007's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    India
    Posts
    4
    Yes, I am a software tester. But that is not what I dreamed off , I am a open source freak so I do want to contribute to it. Couple of odd things that stopping me too choose as linux/unix programming(in Job market) are doesn't earned any computer degree but have post graduation in Physics and had almost 2 years of experience in software testing.

    I have no real time coding experience other than answering the queries in some of forums.

  5. #5
    Kernel hacker
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Farncombe, Surrey, England
    Posts
    15,677
    If you want to get employed in the open source area, then you have a challenge ahead - not only in learning the language, but also getting the experience in working on open source projects.

    You probably should start by looking at contributing to an existing [preferably small-ish] Open Source project.

    Once you have proven yourself in that area, you are in a better position to get a job there.

    Note that this is far from trivial.

    --
    Mats
    Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them!
    Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.

  6. #6
    Registered User Ind007's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    India
    Posts
    4
    Yes, I have big challenge ahead.

    Thanks for sharing your ideas.

  7. #7
    Cogito Ergo Sum
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    463
    Programmers are always in need, but the thing is, going into a computer science major depends on where you live to reap the benefits. The IT industry is moving to India, infact a lot of major coding by software giants is done in India due to the large amount of programmers available there and also the lower costs, even the gaming development is starting to shift there.

  8. #8
    Registered User Ind007's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    India
    Posts
    4
    Thats true. Here (in India) 7-8 development jobs out of 10 will need either Java or .Net skills and most of the projects are web development projects and less opportunities for c and c++ programmers.

  9. #9
    train spotter
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    near a computer
    Posts
    3,868
    Quote Originally Posted by JFonseka View Post
    Programmers are always in need, but the thing is, going into a computer science major depends on where you live to reap the benefits. The IT industry is moving to India, infact a lot of major coding by software giants is done in India due to the large amount of programmers available there and also the lower costs, even the gaming development is starting to shift there.
    There are down sides to offshoring.

    Distance (time zone), language difficulties (technical language is harder than standard language) and in some cases lack of security due to distance (violation of commercial confidence).

    Companies have found the lack of ownership of their code base to be an bigger issue than expected (ie bug fixes or additions very slow).

    Not to mention a back-lash from (patriotic) customers.

    I do custom C/C++ development designing monitoring systems for heavy industry (rail, mining, farming). I spend a lot of time reverse engineering file formats of onboard data loggers or creating mechanisms for different systems to interact (ie STC NG HBDs -> micro PC -> 9600 BAUD radio -> train driver(speak alarms)/Train control software(visual alarms)/DB server(historic record))

    I have work for at least the next two years, then the new GE Evo series locos will be more common (than the DASHs) and I start again....
    Last edited by novacain; 03-22-2008 at 08:04 PM.
    "Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter."
    Friedrich Nietzsche

    "I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars......the rest I squandered."
    George Best

    "If you are going through hell....keep going."
    Winston Churchill

  10. #10
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,195
    The tech jobs, and jobs in general, that are going overseas are the lower skilled jobs to begin with. Generally the jobs that you can throw twice as many guys that are half as good at and still get the same results. India in particular though is absorbing a lot more of the highly skilled tech jobs because they invest a lot more in education and focus that education on math and science, not feel good PC courses that cater to the special interests (translation neo christian luddite crybabies). I estimate that I will be emigrating from the U.S within the next few years, as it will no longer have an educational system capable of producing enough skilled workers to support an industrial economy.

  11. #11
    Registered User Jaqui's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    416
    With the trend to use Java and .NET for applications, C and C++ are becoming more and more the languages used for systems programming only in the commercial software world. [ windows, OSX, Linux, *BSD ... ]

    Open Source software will still use C and C++ more than the commercial softwae houses, but making a living from open source is far harder than from commercial or proprietary software.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Henager
    If the average user can put a CD in and boot the system and follow the prompts, he can install and use Linux. If he can't do that simple task, he doesn't need to be around technology.

  12. #12
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Rishon LeZion, Israel
    Posts
    6,788
    C and C++ are becoming more and more the languages used for systems programming
    What about RT applications (like streaming etc)? I doubt Net or Java will be widly used for this purpose any time soon...
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
    – David J. Wheeler

  13. #13
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    3,195
    C/C++ Über Alles

    Particularly in HPC C/C++ will always be the language of choice. No matter how fast java or any other language gets, C/C++ remain the most flexible general purpose language to date. Particularly with HPC this is an issue since most of the problems being solved are unique to begin with. So yeah I could learn java in half the time, which means if I stopped learnign C then in 10 years I woudl be as good at java as I am with C, or I could keep learnign C and in 10 years I could be 50% better than I am now. Its better to know one language well than 2 languages half ass.
    Last edited by abachler; 03-25-2008 at 01:47 PM.

  14. #14
    Reverse Engineer maxorator's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Estonia
    Posts
    2,318
    C and C++ are becoming more and more the languages used for systems programming
    I actually doubt that any of larger products will be built on .NET or Java (like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Acrobat, Autocad etc).

    In fact, the last releases of Photoshop and Autocad were only bugfixes and a lot better performance - not much new features. This shows that companies think performance is a very important issue, which means C and C++ will be still widely used in the future.

    I think that .NET and Java are used for smaller commercial applications, that do less things, like little simple tools. I don't think .NET is gonna be used a lot in larger projects though.
    Last edited by maxorator; 03-25-2008 at 01:54 PM.
    "The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore

  15. #15
    Registered User Jaqui's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    416
    Quote Originally Posted by maxorator View Post
    I actually doubt that any of larger products will be built on .NET or Java (like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Acrobat, Autocad etc)..
    sorry to shock you, but Autocad is now .NET based, the 2007 release was the first version that required .net V2 to run.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Henager
    If the average user can put a CD in and boot the system and follow the prompts, he can install and use Linux. If he can't do that simple task, he doesn't need to be around technology.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Career Guidence:C++ with unix flavor
    By CChakra in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 10-27-2008, 11:29 AM
  2. To Program or Not to Program. Career Advise.
    By SoLost in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 05-05-2008, 02:58 PM
  3. Is a career in computer science promising?
    By yougene in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 03-07-2008, 06:09 PM
  4. New degree, now how do I build a software career?
    By nethervoid in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 03-14-2005, 01:47 PM
  5. programming career in future?
    By JaWiB in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 04-24-2003, 06:40 PM