Agreed. I'd say a good approach would go something like this: 1. have a taste for using simple, clean tools 2. when in need of software, see if you can find

Agreed. I'd say a good approach would go something like this: 1. have a taste for using simple, clean tools 2. when in need of software, see if you can find simple, clean tools that do what you need 3. prefer those that use languages you know or would like to learn 4. use them for a while and see if you like them and develop a sense of what kind of contributions you could make 5. check out the source to see if you can get a clear enough concept of it to develop some good patches If all of that works out, submit your patches. Voila: you're an open source contributor.