|
|
|
|
|
|
by intricatedetail
1562 days ago
|
|
|
Probably semi related, but when I was looking at C/C++ job offers, why are they paid so little in comparison to Python or JavaScript?
It seems like C/C++ is much more complex. I was mainly looking at embedded stuff vs Web.
For example senior C++ role was paying £45k pa on average and over £60k for JS. |
|
|
C++ is a very error prone, complex and risky language and even when used in industry, it's used in such a way that companies significantly restrict its feature set to a mostly sane subset of the language that in many cases looks like a dialect of C with classes. The benefit of using it is your product has the potential to outperform software written in other languages, but this benefit often comes at the cost of software that is more limited in features compared to competitors.
For some domains, like HFT, audio and graphics, where performance is the primary feature C++ does pay well, but for most other domains the sheer complexity of the language outweighs any benefit to productivity.
So ultimately the reason Python developers get paid more than C++ developers is because products developed in Python are more productive than products developed in C++. The reason for that difference in productivity is that given two developers who are both investing X units of time working a product, the Python developer is far more likely to spend that time adding new features to their product while the C++ developer is likely to spend that time trying to find the cause of some random bug due to undefined behavior, or trying to figure out some arcane and complex language quirk.