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How Much C++ Should You Know For an Entry-Level C++ Job?
Nerval's Lobster writes: How much C++ do you need to know to land an entry-level job that's heavy in C++? That's a question Dice posed to several developers. While the exact topic was C++, the broader question of "How much X do you actually need to know to make money off it?" could also apply to any number of programming languages. In the case of C++, basics to know include virtual methods, virtual destructors, operator overloading, how templates work, correct syntax, the standard library, and more. Anything less, and a senior developer will likely get furious; they have a job to do, and that job isn't teaching the ins and outs of programming. With all that in mind, what's a minimum level of knowledge for a programming language for entry-level developers?
As a C++ hiring manager I like you to have a relevant degree; know C++-98 pitfalls to the level of Meyers, "Exceptional C++", "More Exceptional C++"; be aware of or know the Gang of Four Patterns. Familiarity with Sutter and Alexandrescu's writings are nice. Knowledge of Lakos and physical design (rate) is a big bonus. In a big project, even with good programmers, they usually make a mess out of the physical design. Some understanding of unit test and coverage is good too.
unique_ptr is normally preferred over shared_ptr -- the former is zero-overhead compared to a pointer, while the latter has a reference count associated with it which has to be incremented and decremented. If you know two or more things will be using the pointer and you don't want to have to worry about ownership semantics, shared_ptr makes a lot of sense. If you know only one will be using it, unique_ptr makes more sense.
I don't know who told you C++ was an object-oriented language. It's not -- ask Bjarne. It supports many different styles of programming, object-oriented being just one of many, but it is in no way object-oriented. You can write large code bases without using a single object.