C++ Revolution: Number of Job Openings Soars by 40% — What’s Behind the Boom?

The labor market for C++ developers is experiencing an unprecedented boom

According to the results of 2019, the number of open vacancies for C++ developers in Russia increased by 40% compared to the previous year. Such data is provided by the job search portal hh.ru. Experts attribute this surge to the active development of high-load systems, fintech, and the gaming industry.

"C++ remains the language for tasks where performance is critical: from trading robots to AAA games. In 2019, we saw how companies that previously relied on Java or Python began to reconsider their architecture in favor of C++ to optimize hardware costs," comments Alexey Ivanov, technical director of the company "CodeBase". According to him, the average salary of a senior C++ developer in Moscow reached 250–300 thousand rubles, which is 15% higher than a year earlier.

The growth is especially noticeable in the segment of embedded systems and IoT. "The Internet of Things requires minimal latency and energy efficiency. C++ is unrivaled here," notes Maria Sokolova, HR director of the startup "SmartDevice". She added that the number of applications from job seekers increased by only 12%, which creates a shortage of personnel and forces employers to raise salary offers.

Among the leading regions in demand are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Novosibirsk. The capital accounts for 55% of all vacancies, mainly in the areas of software development for financial markets and real-time systems. At the same time, in Novosibirsk, a traditional center of the Siberian IT school, the demand for C++ developers increased by 60% due to the expansion of laboratories in Akademgorodok.

Experts predict that the trend will continue in 2020, especially in connection with the transition to the C++17 and C++20 standards. "Business has realized that saving on development speed in higher-level languages results in a loss of performance. C++ is back in fashion," summarizes Ivanov.

For novice developers, entering the profession has become more difficult: employers increasingly require experience of 3 years and knowledge of multithreading. However, according to hh.ru, the number of internships for C++ trainees increased by 25%, which gives hope to beginners.