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When I talk to people about careers I see a lot of people with the implicit assumption that because something is technically difficult, it should pay well. Of c

When I talk to people about careers I see a lot of people with the implicit assumption that because something is technically difficult, it should pay well. Of course, when you say it out loud, it doesn’t sound true any more. The correlation between job difficulty and pay is relatively weak. I do think that one of the contributing factors here is that it’s hard to be as productive in C++ as you can be in other languages. People talk about how amazing C++ is all the time and how it’s got great performance and you can build great applications, libraries, and services with it… but it still seems like the amount of work and expertise it takes to build an application in C++ is usually larger than the amount of work it takes to build the same application in another language. The same may be true of embedded programming. The embedded programmers I’ve met seem like a smart bunch, but I know that the fact that embedded programming is hard is a double-edged sword—you need to hire expertise to get it done, but it takes more work and expertise to get anything done.

lazypenguin 4y ago
I agree, your comment nails it for me. As an average developer who maybe is above average in C++ I’m just more productive and can produce better results in other languages in a shorter amount of time with less pain.
TulliusCicero 4y ago
A job being hard doesn't mean it'll pay well, but a job being quite easy usually means it won't pay well, because it's easy enough to replace whoever's demanding more pay. Of course, you'll get people here insisting that web dev or whatever pays well and is easy, but try asking actual hiring managers and recruiters how easy it is to find competent experienced devs. The reality is probably that it is indeed fairly easy for some people who have a knack for the kind of thinking required. But for most people, it's not easy at all, and demand is, of course, very high.
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  Ideally, you find a job that’s easy for you and hard for everyone else.

lazypenguin 4y ago

I agree, your comment nails it for me. As an average developer who maybe is above average in C++ I’m just more productive and can produce better results in other languages in a shorter amount of time with less pain.

TulliusCicero 4y ago

A job being hard doesn't mean it'll pay well, but a job being quite easy usually means it won't pay well, because it's easy enough to replace whoever's demanding more pay. Of course, you'll get people here insisting that web dev or whatever pays well and is easy, but try asking actual hiring managers and recruiters how easy it is to find competent experienced devs. The reality is probably that it is indeed fairly easy for some people who have a knack for the kind of thinking required. But for most people, it's not easy at all, and demand is, of course, very high.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
Ideally, you find a job that’s easy for you and hard for everyone else.