I've contributed to open source software, and done a little maintenance work too. The number one thing I recommend is that you email the project mailing list be

I've contributed to open source software, and done a little maintenance work too. The number one thing I recommend is that you email the project mailing list before you start work. Tell them that you're new, but you want to help. People are usually happy to help newcomers find an appropriate project and answer questions along the way. What I've seen going wrong in the past is where people decide that they want to contribute to a project and don't tell anyone else about it until they've written hundreds or thousands of lines of code that are never going to be accepted, because the maintainers don't like their overall design (or the maintainers don't agree with the direction of the patch, or something else that could have been caught early but is way too late now). Communicate early, communicate often. And if a community doesn't like that, leave and find a different one. Your time is more valuable than that. P.S. and be sure you're contributing to a project that you are passionate about, not just one that sounds cool. Having your own intrinsic motivation will make a huge difference.