Good luck, but in my opinion there's very little room for improvements in core code which could be found and undertaken by newcomer. It is more realistic to get

Good luck, but in my opinion there's very little room for improvements in core code which could be found and undertaken by newcomer. It is more realistic to get first kernel-related experience by working on drivers - they tend to be much less perfect. For drivers work, all you need is usage of provided API and communication with maintainers and mentors. That's my point.