Hi,

I contributed to Microsoft Windows Terminal Open Source Project for about 7 months. Legends say (Alex) that if you land 5 big PR's they'll give you a job.

"You got no recent work experience". A recruiter told me they rejected me cause I had no recent experience. Open Source can help get your resumé running with fresh experience.

I build a feature to Enable Unfocused Acrylic in [Microsoft](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=microsoft&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7111062782527033344) Windows Terminal A deeply sought after feature request upvoted by ∼ 100 people:

- Demo: <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jaswir-raghoe_microsoft-activity-7111062782527033344-yMEw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop>
- Issue: <https://lnkd.in/eNDTBUrV>
- [PR](https://lnkd.in/eNDTBUrV%EF%BF%BCPR): <https://lnkd.in/e8qdUXQu>

### How I got into Open Source Software and started with Windows Terminal

It's hard for me to believe that the Windows Terminal had no unfocused Acrylic for about 3 years. Like it was waiting for me to get back.

I was there when Microsoft announced the Windows Terminal Open Source project in 2019. Only in 2023 after a 3 year career break I started looking into Open Source as a way to get my resumé running again with fresh experience. After a recruiter told me they rejected me cause I had no recent experience.

After trying out XUnit which didn't work out I started looking at some Open Source projects from Big Tech. This and Chromium Web Browser were projects that appealed to me. Ended up working on this. People here were more like me a workhorse: responded quickly, added much value, also setting a high bar for quality! This was refreshing after trying some other collaborations that didn't work out.

### **Connection**

I think you need to get along with one of the maintainers not sure how to say it in English but in Netherlands we have this word "klik" it means you just get along with someone. These Big Tech repos can often be very daunting, so you'll naturally have lots of questions. I tried a bunch of open source projects, but in the Windows Terminal Project I had a "klik" with one of the maintainers this helped out a lot in getting up and running

### **How To Get A Big PR**

I started with a small PR in a certain area of the codebase this helped me land the big PR, because I already had experience with this area of the code base the big PR became easier.

I haven't been able to get a Referral at Microsoft, they mentioned they wanted to see a longer track record of contributions. But with the AI boom and all, I have instead changed my focus on AI. And I don't regret it.

Doing a PR to Big Tech Open Source was good for my confidence. And is good to have on my resume. Mostly it thought me more about what developers at Microsoft are like, and that they weren't as impressive as I had expected.

Software Engineer @ Some University

Jaswir Raghoe

You need to keep up your work rhythm, the longer you stay unemployed the fasters it's going to disappear. Even a crappy SWE job is way better than staying unemployed.