I have spent around half my career focussing on C++, my current job is half C++ (generally just maintaining old programs, or writing new ones that use old libra

I have spent around half my career focussing on C++, my current job is half C++ (generally just maintaining old programs, or writing new ones that use old libraries) and half higher level languages (generally preferred over C++). I think the number of applications where C++ is an appropriate choice for a new project is a lot less now than it was 10 years ago. Generally a higher level language (Java, C#, Python etc) should be looked at first in most cases, but I am sure C++ will have its niche for a while yet. Like games for example. Cross platform could indeed be one of those niches, but just being native isn't that big a deal. Python and Java to give a couple of examples are just as compelling options in most cases.