In my experience, C++ programmers have the smallest range of programming language knowledge. Basically, their whole world is C++. They have a hammer, and everything looks like a nail. "But performance!" they declare ... when you are writing a single function to reverse a string: "Can I use Python?" In my career and domain, I have never once seen a graph algorithm used, yet 5% of posts of HN are all about them. I guess I am an idiot.
Another thing about C++ interviews: Frequently, their difficultly far exceeds anything they are using in their own code base. That can be hugely embarrassing after you slog through a brutal few rounds of C++ interviews and land that offer. A few weeks later, you are rolling up your sleeves, waiting for the first Git clone to complete. Then you feast your eyes on a puddle of dog doo that they call uber-C++-2027 or whatever they claim. "Oh." Such defeat.
- that who accepts that the language has infinite complexity and it takes a lifetime to master it, which makes it ill-suited for most real-world tasks, because there are domain-specific tools which have the same performance and are easier to use
- that who accepts the language has infinite complexity and thus it can serve any purpose, so there's no point in working with anything else, just keep improving the C++ subskills relevant to the task at hand
some folks of the second kind have a hard time with empathising that mastering C++ is not in fact the only way to build better software.
I got my first job (25 years ago it so) after reading a c++ book and doing the assignments. To get this job I had to take a c++ test made by the most experienced developer there. The code I eventually wrote had none of the tested language features.
These days I often work with a mix of C, C++, Python and Rust. I try to avoid c++ as people writing c++ (IMHO) are not writing code that is easy to understand. They usually write code which is efficient but hard to understand. Even when effectiveness is not a part of the requirements.
Another thing about C++ interviews: Frequently, their difficultly far exceeds anything they are using in their own code base. That can be hugely embarrassing after you slog through a brutal few rounds of C++ interviews and land that offer. A few weeks later, you are rolling up your sleeves, waiting for the first Git clone to complete. Then you feast your eyes on a puddle of dog doo that they call uber-C++-2027 or whatever they claim. "Oh." Such defeat.