> But as soon as you start interacting with other programmers, it's inevitable that some will use some other subset of language features.
I disagree. Such a problem will be in any language. So, any project should have a code style which will describe how you can do things and how you should not do them.
> I feel like you don't really stand a chance unless you've also been closely following it for decades.
From my experience, 2 years is enough. I started from zero and now I'm pretty good in C++. Although this can look like a really long time, but you should consider that to understand a lot of parts of C++ you need knowledge in computer science and programs design, which you should learn with any other language too.
I disagree. Such a problem will be in any language. So, any project should have a code style which will describe how you can do things and how you should not do them.
> I feel like you don't really stand a chance unless you've also been closely following it for decades.
From my experience, 2 years is enough. I started from zero and now I'm pretty good in C++. Although this can look like a really long time, but you should consider that to understand a lot of parts of C++ you need knowledge in computer science and programs design, which you should learn with any other language too.