This is just an anedoctal observation, don't generalize based on just this. It's something I've been thinking for a while.
I've been on development since the end of the 90s. I noticed that in the last positions, I did much more interviews for higher level languages then for C and C++, but got jobs on the fewer interviews that were looking for C and C++.
There's many other variables, I think more than half the ones I landed I had strong referrals from people that already worked with me.
The referrals were the most important thing to bypass being poor at interviewing, but with C++ it is a smaller world around here, and there is less people to compete with the referrals themselves. There isn't as many people that you reference for those.
I'm wondering what other modern languages I should build experience on to future proof myself a little better.
I like Rust, I'm using it in some smaller things. I didn't see much of it out of the blockchain market until I noticed Lemmy.
There is Golang love the idea that they focus on fast build times. At my current job I have projects that take 1h to 4h to compile on C++, if it was golang it would be so much better.
The stackoverflow survey says that Clojure is the most well paid programming language. Chances are it got it's status for both being niche and having positions available for it, that is a good signal that they could hire someone that is bad at interviewing (probably not with the salary they said on the stackoverflow survey).
I suspect Closure isn't easy to move into. Being niche and the language that pays better, something is keeping people away from it, and I don't know what it is yet.
Every specialization grants some immunity for weaker social skills. Everyone seems to know they need cybersecurity and database skills. Everyone also needs accessibility, networking, disaster recovery and test automation. Many also know that.
That said, interviews suck for everyone. I try to look at every interview as a gift I'm giving. Maybe my answers can help them, even if they can't hire me.
If they ask a lot of stupid useless fizzbuzz, then framing the time as a gift helps me pity them instead of feeling angry. I already gave them my time, they just wasted it. Their foolishness doesn't reduce the worthiness of my choice to try to help them.
That's an interesting attitute for interviews. Have to think about it.
You seem to have a skill set of native, compiled languages. I think Rust and moreso Go (there seem to be more jobs in Go but maybe I'm wrong) are great choices to dive into.
Honestly, Python is a great choice too. Python is sort of like SQL in that a lot of devs use it a little bit. So it's great to know even if it can just get your resume to show up on filters looking for any amount of Python experience.
Java is probably one of the most widely used backend languages with regards to jobs but maybe I'm getting skewed information because I am a Java developer myself. Clojure is a language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). There are some others like Scala, Kotlin and Groovy. Clojure is very niche. I was hired in 2021 to help migrate a Clojure application to Java in part because they couldn't find many Clojure devs. If you want to learn a LISP language that's probably the best one to go for but I wouldn't choose it only for making you more hirable if you weren't already a Java developer.
Edit: I really don't think there's much difference based on interviewing ability. References help you get an interview, not necessarily a job. I think I interview pretty well (or at least like to think I do). The best tip I can give is try to view it like a conversation rather than a test. If you don't know something try to say what you do know about it and how you'd go about learning it.
I say learn Clojure… but only because it is really really neat.
Can't help with the job thing though, unless you want to work at a tiny little newspaper as their only programmer for not a whole lot of money.
Clojure is a LISP for the JVM. If that idea doesn't scare you off, then you should be fine picking it up.
I think it has had less adoption in the industry because LISP-iness has picked up this semi-mythical status in the programming world that I think intimidates people. It's like how all "magic spells" are written in Latin, programmers seem to assume that LISPs are not for the common man (or woman!) but only for the elite.
Scala has some of that effect too.
