Is it me or is finding a a C++ developer job getting harder since banks prefer C#?

[abbash]

I have been a C++ developer for a number of years however since the end of 2011 I find it progressively more difficult to find a decent C++ contract position.

Do you need to move away from C++ and polish up my C# skills if I am interested to work in a "Non-Embedded" systems?

Please advise.

[suityou01]

If all else fails, just become a tester. Money for old rope.

HTH

[BrilloPad]

As a contractor, one is expected to have skills that are more recent so c# is better.

But market is tight in banks. Its the only growth area of the economy due to QE.

[The Spartan]

If all else fails, just become a tester. Money for old rope.

HTH

don't give the game away suity

[suityou01]

don't give the game away suity

[BlasterBates]

I was in finance C++. Lot less C++ contracts. There is generally a lot less of everyone in the bank as they're increasingly using offshore resources.

Not much of a future in banking. The big banks will have to cut costs further. There are opportunities in smaller banks and hedge funds, they're doing reasonably well. The armies of contractors in big banks though will slowly disappear.

Seems to be quite a demand in embedded systems development and generally outside banks, but at lower rates.

[VectraMan]

I don't know about banking, but certainly last year there weren't many C++ contracts. But OTOH, I found myself quite in demand as a permie. Which is why I am one.

[MyUserName]

If you only know C++ then there are fewer roles as technology moves on and more roles are offshored.

With C++ in banks you generally have:

Ones that want you to write GUIs for their legacy systems and generally maintain their code. GUIs are moving away from C++ GUIs (QT, MFC etc.) into WPF and HTML5 so learning C#, JavaScript and other relevant techs is advised.

Ones require you write market data feeds and other low level things. Normally, you need a mix of C++ and C as well as linux knowledge.