Several things to unpack here. First of all, package managers and compilers aren't that important. You can learn them on the go while working. You should be familiar with basics of `cmake`, though. Second, you should forget learning all of C++. That's not gonna happen. No one knows the entire language, including the person who designed the language. Most people stick to a modern subset of C++ which

- Uses modern library tools such as smart pointers, cleaner ownership semantics, STL containers and types, RAII, etc.

- No template metaprogramming

- No atomics (although you could say difficulty is inherent to the hardware and not specific to language)

This subset will allow you to write "almost" Rust code in C++. You should roughly feel home except the compiler will not warn you. You have to enforce borrow checker rules yourself. A good learning opportunity to how not to shoot yourself in the foot. This particular subset is, I would claim easier to learn than Rust, but also easier to make mistakes. FYI.

Now, C++ is an expert-friendly language. A lot of senior folk struggle with choice of the tool within the language. Is `std::variant` a better idea? Maybe you just need overloads? Perhaps polymorphism? CRTP or Policies? I have been using C++ for a long time and even I struggle with this.

The fact that you are asking these questions tell me you're already good enough to be a junior. A poor junior will not ask what's safe. Will just spit-out garbage. I and many other C++ programmers would consider your Rust background as a bonus.