Highly suggest connecting with one of the lead developers, Charles Dang/Vultraz, if you have any C++ jobs in the USA.

He's been a developer on Wesnoth since 2012 but only graduated university in 2024. Unfortunately, it's been an absolutely brutal market for new graduates. Even if you're a maintainer on one of the most popular OSS C++ projects on GitHub.

I can't recommend him enough.

edit: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-dang-10994b1b4

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EmeraldSky 32 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Even with 5 (albeit small) linux kernel patches, 2 Firefox patches.. employers weren’t interested. I’ve stopped contributing to open source completely. I’m considering switching fields. It was interesting but these days I need some ROI, personally.

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wwilson 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Thanks,our company is in the DC area so I just reached out with an offer to chat. Wesnoth is an incredible project, I can't believe he doesn't have a programming job.

	▲	35 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

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ecshafer 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I am very surprised if he can't find a job, as an American, in DC, with 12 years of C++ experience. Sure companies aren't great at assessing open source experience, but there is one area its easy to find a job as a dev: work that requires a clearance.

	▲	setgree an hour ago \| parent [-]
		St. John’s college is a great place that draws a special type of young person, but its graduates are not very STEM-legible. As far as I know they still offer no choice of major & no hands-on classes — just the great books. Of course that makes this person’s skill all the more impressive.

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FrustratedMonky an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That is sad. Maintaining something like this really takes almost all the skills also needed for enterprise, or a dozen places.

That it doesn't get him instant hired is the sad part, what are we coming to.

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szmarczak 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Unfortunately, it's been an absolutely brutal market for new graduates.

Furthermore, more and more companies are looking for "professional" devs using AI tools such as Claude Code. By "professional" I mean proficient in using those AI tools, not actual knowledge. And they don't even specify this in the job offer and you learn this during the interview.

	▲	jjmarr 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I don't understand why you're downvoted. Many of my 2025 graduate friends are seeing this problem. Unlimited token-based usage of Claude Code is not in the budget for many students and employees. At the same time, companies are demanding experience with these tools. This is stratifying the industry. I have many talented classmates that can only use free GitHub Copilot. They're likely being screened out in favour of rich classmates with $200/month Claude subs. As a result, they'll be more likely to get low-paying jobs that don't provide access to top-tier AI tools and the effect will compound. I think this'll be even worse as Claude phases out subsidies. If $2000/month subscription to Claude for 4 years of university is the minimum required for a Big Tech job, this field is going to become law/finance levels of cliquey. Nobody is talking about that because it's bad for both AI booster and skeptic narratives but it's happening.