It's amazing how badly embedded programming and C++ programming in general pay compared to the others you mention like Python & Ruby. A good C++ programmer has to know a whole lot more (and be careful about a whole lot more) than a Python or Ruby programmer does. C++ is well known to be a complicated beast - probably the most complicated programming language in existence with plenty of footguns. And an embedded developer needs to know a lot about both software and hardware.
Yes - I used to program in C++, and left it for another job. 2 years later, when looking for other opportunities, I realized how much of the small details in C++ I'd forgotten, and didn't want to go back to all those minutiae unless it paid more.
I'm about a decade removed from a C++ shop and I disagree with this.
I've found C++ shops have "lower" standards for C++ developers. I'm putting "lower" in quotes here because I'm talking relative skill within a given language. It just seems way more common in C++ shops to have situations where "20% of the developers do 80% of the work". This isn't to say there's dead weight in Python/Ruby shops, but my experience in the C++ world was there was always a small group of developers doing most of the work and this is considered normal whereas the same situation in a Python/Ruby shop would be a major crisis.
Despite the demand, if you're a low output Python/Ruby dev you'll likely struggle to hold a career together; hiring will be a slog and you'll get squeezed out of orgs with PIPs every 6 months. The same low output C++ developer could probably stay gainfully employed once hired.
Hopefully this fact might encourage others to pursue C/C++ jobs. There is zero expectations towards being a "rockstar" - if you know the fundamentals and can plod through work at whatever pace you're comfortable with there's probably a job out there for you.
I've gone from Python to embedded C++ recently and this is my experience, although I would add that C++ devs know a lot more at the lower level of abstraction such as Linux, toolchains, etc which makes them seem like wizards. Outside of embedded, a good Python or NodeJS engineer has opportunities to do more automation and value added activities such as CI/CD, test automation, devops, etc.
