<p>If you are going to be a programmer professionally or do a job where programming is part of the job, knowing C/C++ is pretty much a must, even if not every job calls for them. It would be like wanting a job as a car reviewer but not knowing how to drive a stick, or wanting to be a building contractor but not knowing anything about electrical systems. C/C++ are in such wide use that they are an important part of any programmer’s toolkit.</p>
<p>One last piece of advice from somebody who’s taken introductory programming courses taught in C++ and also in Java: C++ is easier to learn on. I know that flies in the face of conventional wisdom but it’s true. When you are learning programming you spend a lot of time making relatively simple programs, to learn the basics of handling variables, loops, functions, etc., and all of these programs will use the command line interface because that is the best way to start out learning programming, no distracting graphics, just you and the computer with nothing in-between but the compiler.</p>
<p>Doing these types of simple programs on Java, however, is a pain, because Java was built from the ground-up to be graphical. Intro programming courses are actually made more complex by using Java, because the same task requires more typing, more lines of code, etc. compared to doing the same simple thing on C++, for example prompting the user for a number and then assigning that value to a variable. Two short lines in C++, but I think it was like four longer, more complex lines in Java (been a while).</p>