My answers are more general to your growth as a programmer and not as a means to an end for help to make that desktop app. Google Code-in starts next https://c

My answers are more general to your growth as a programmer and not as a means to an end for help to make that desktop app. Google Code-in starts next https://code.google.com/opensource/gci/2012/index.html https://code.google.com/opensource/gci/2012/index.html . "The tasks are grouped into the following categories: 1. Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code 2. Documentation/Training: Tasks related to creating/editing documents and helping others learn more 3. Outreach/Research: Tasks related to community management, outreach/marketing, or studying problems and recommending solutions 4. Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality 5. User Interface: Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction" You could even win a trip to Google HQ in Mountain View. I did the college version (Summer of Code) and it was a very rewarding experience. I think the code-in can put you in contact with some organizations that might want to mentor you. The Mozilla Foundation has a bunch of projects you can contribute patches and fixes to as well. If you don't know it already, learn how to use git. I would also suggest the book Programming OpenSouce Software by Karl Fogel (just google for it, he offers it free online).