Why do you want to get into open source? Is it because you support the philosophy of open source? Is it because you don't like your present job and want to w

Why do you want to get into open source? Is it because you support the philosophy of open source? Is it because you don't like your present job and want to work at a better one, and it seems like open source work would be more pleasant? People who can make a living doing open source are rare, you have better chances of winning the lottery than making a non poverty living writing open source code unless you can make yourself a super star. The only solid way to do it is code, code code. Write software people will use, that not only works well but which has quality source code. Share it, support it, work with others to make the software even better. Write something people need that is otherwise very expensive, like a CAD package for a specific need, or something that is a niche no one has addressed yet with really high quality software. Note that the above relate to software you create. If you just want to work maintaining open source software, you can get a job working with it somewhere that uses it extensively... not too hard these days, lots of places that make set top boxes or embedded devices use Linux, Android is still partly Linux. If you're thinking of making a living by writing open source software but you haven't already written a well liked open source package.... I suggest you adjust your expectations.