While the above is true, if you get to know C++ for your own education and try to work on some projects with people at work the value add to your skill set will be above Matlab because: 1) People will assume that if you can write C++ and can point to some projects you have completed then you will be able to handle Matlab. 2) Because of the steep learning curve, the barriers to entry for C++ are greater than for someting like Matlab. At least, this is my experience. I leaned/am still learning C++, although most of the writing I do is C#. If you are new to programming, Programming: Principals and Practice using C++ by Bjarne Stroustrup (arguably C++'s inventor) is a very good way to learn. It teachs how to program well with C++ used as the medium. The focus is always on understanding good programming as opposed to just giving you the rules of the language and letting you develop bad habits. It will take you about 4 months to get through if you work on it with CFA exam type regularity.
MattLikesAnalysis Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > what do you use c++ to create? monte carlo var > models? how complex do your models get? for those > who use matlab, how extensive is your modeling, > what does it entail? all this quant stuff is all > new to me but i’m thinking i’m going to head that > route. i’ve taken classes in vba before but > nothing was finance related… You are asking the right question, how extensive if the modelling ? 99% of finance applications do not require C++ programming. To specifically require C++ you would need to be working on something like high-frequency automated trading where you have to run your code on workstations running UNIX in say a parallel processing environment. But then, it’s no longer about modelling in that case and more about programming. One thing that I forgot to mention, once you wrote your program in Matlab, you can generate the equivalent C++ code using the built-in compiler. This means that you can do all your modelling, simluations, PDEs, … on Matlab and then when you’re confident about your work and ready to deploy your model, you can simply generate the C++ equivalent and give it to a programmer to plug it in your company’s platform. PS. I don’t work for Matlab 
…