Modern C++ is the language of choice for high-performance, high-scale data-intensive applications and will remain so for the foreseeable future. This is a class

Modern C++ is the language of choice for high-performance, high-scale data-intensive applications and will remain so for the foreseeable future. This is a class of application for which it is uniquely suited (C and Rust both have significant limitations in this domain). There are other domains like gaming that are also heavily into C++. Avoiding legacy C++ codebases is more about choosing where you work carefully. It goes without saying that if you don't like the kinds of applications where C++ excels then it may not be a good career choice because it is not a general purpose language in practice.