Why I think of myself as a programmer instead of a C++ programmer

My personal view on programming languages is like my view on any other spoken language, such as french, german or english. My mother tongue is german, but I also speak enough English to express myself. For me the difference between both languages is just who to speak to so whoever I speak with understands the best of what I want to express. The language itself is secondary, in my point of view all of them have the same concepts, such as grammar and tense (I hope no linguistic experts are reading this post;). In other words, I think the concepts are important, not the language itself.

For me I feel the same about programming languages, concepts like OOD/OOP, functional programming, etc., are important and more or less common for most languages. A good programmer is for me a professional who is able to switch and apply a certain concept whenever the context in his/her current project is making it necessary, regardless of the language. I think a good programmer can’t be defined by the programming languages but the his/her knowledge of concepts and practices.

Yes, I also think a programmer has his mother tongue, in my case it’s C++, the language a programmer has mastered the best upon all languages he/she is able to code with. But I think, a good programmer can apply his knowledge in every language which is necessary to solve a certain problem. Because of this I would like to see programming languages on CV’s handled more like the spoken languages, with more focus on important concepts in programming and software engineering in general. Whenever I’m involved in interviews between HR and a candidate, I’m more interested in the candidate’s knowledge of concepts and practices instead of his/her knowledge of a certain language.

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