Interestingly, this is because -- after reasonable amount of C++, C#, Java coding I have just settled with Clojure (or Lisp in general). I really enjoyed writing clever C++ template stuff like class hierarchy generators and so on until I became old enough to think that good!=clever, good==maintainable&&it works.

Too much syntax and cleverness is bad for the industry as usually it attracts a lot of smart people who end up writing C++ (or Scala) -- but the problem is that they use a set of patterns+language subset that is unique to the team/company. Therefore knowing C++ does not mean you can just start at a company using C++, you have to learn their way.

Notable exceptions are Java and C#. Java is so simple and verbose that you can't write unreadable code unless you're really evil, it's a shame that the complexity and cleverness is moved to the frameworks (there aren't many "Java programmers", most of them are Spring, etc. specialists). C# works well because MS dictates the patterns (and those patters are usually quite good) while the language itself is very readable and intuitive, without crazy rules.

And there's Lisp/Clojure where there are only a handful simple rules, and cleverness is usually local, e.g. macros or tricky 'functional' data manipulation stuff; but for me that 'local' cleverness is the most understandable.