On the flip side of this, I once had a man lurking in front of a Wallgreens say to me "I'm a COBOL programmer. Got any change?" ;>
I would also like to note just as an additional data point that our local .edu has replaced C++ with Java for the entry-level CS programming class. This irritates me, but as I am merely a newbie myself, I cannot coherently state why, just as I can add little to the original question.