It obviously depends on where you start. I'd say you should start by contributing to a small project, where there usually isn't a lot of red tape to learn. An

It obviously depends on where you start. I'd say you should start by contributing to a small project, where there usually isn't a lot of red tape to learn. And most large projects have extension mechanisms, so if you want to contribute to a large project, make a small stand-alone extension. Or contribute to someone else's stand-alone extension.