Having graduated in 2003, I can say I was not prepared for what was happening in the real world. We were taught C++, but not MFC and not GCC, either of which wo

Having graduated in 2003, I can say I was not prepared for what was happening in the real world. We were taught C++, but not MFC and not GCC, either of which would have provided a grounding for a real world job. I am a .NET programmer as well. I have considered switching over to other platforms and still do consider it, but in the meantime I have turned my .NET career, which was stagnant in 2010/2011, into something interesting by using new approaches, new architectures, and learning as much as possible about choosing the right tools for the job. By seeking out these choices, I have opened up other ways of working which allow me to work remotely and with a flexible schedule and with non-MS technologies such as Kafka, Cassandra, Redis, etc. If you are having trouble finding a way into the OSS world, don't give up on .NET. Instead, double down on it by applying new and emerging patterns and techniques that you pick up from learning other languages.