Design engineer asks the innocent question: "is learning a new programming language really that hard?" and gets hit with a reality check from someone who actually knows. The developer/architect drops the truth bomb: C++ takes decades to master. Not years. Decades . And honestly? They're not wrong. While you can pick up Python in a weekend and feel productive, C++ is that language where you think you understand pointers, then you discover smart pointers, then move semantics, then template metaprogramming, then you're 15 years in and still discovering new ways your code can segfault. It's like the Dark Souls of programming languages—brutally punishing but weirdly respected by those who've survived it. The design engineer's "Nope" is the sound of someone who hasn't been scarred by undefined behavior yet. Sweet summer child.