I think the comparison was with embedded programming, which can be pretty hard in its own right.
Also, with lots of embedded stuff, you don't get the "do over" of being able to update your server with the latest code. Once it has shipped, it had better work. In some cases, people's lives may directly depend on it, something that's probably fairly rare in the world of web programming.
I'd hire someone good with C pretty quickly, if I had the time to let them get ramped up, and they demonstrated the flexibility and willingness to learn.
I hopped on your website, sir (madam ?) and no doubt, you are a rockstar. I'm talking about typical jobs -- typical embedded vs. typical desktop vs. typical web. Yours does not seem like a typical job, nor do you appear to be a typical developer. Most typical desktop/embedded jobs out there do not require keeping up with constantly changing technologies the way typical web jobs do.
Also, with lots of embedded stuff, you don't get the "do over" of being able to update your server with the latest code. Once it has shipped, it had better work. In some cases, people's lives may directly depend on it, something that's probably fairly rare in the world of web programming.
I'd hire someone good with C pretty quickly, if I had the time to let them get ramped up, and they demonstrated the flexibility and willingness to learn.