I decided a couple of years ago that my O/S focus would be Apache Solr. But I did not start by jumping into the source and trying to fix it. I started writing p

I decided a couple of years ago that my O/S focus would be Apache Solr. But I did not start by jumping into the source and trying to fix it. I started writing projects around it with Solr being a common-theme. And with the focus being the newbies and on-boarding experience. And, it turned out that there is lots of opportunities. I now run a Solr resource website (http://www.solr-start.com http://www.solr-start.com) which is quite appreciated. To create that website, I used Solr of course (for Javadoc search). But I also used and contributed back to Spring.io client for Solr. I cloned and improved Javadoc generator. I wrote a bunch of custom Javadoc doclets to automatically generate various lists from the Solr source code itself. I even contributed to Python and Ruby clients for Solr by just trying to do the most basic TodoMVC equivalent in multiple client libraries. You'd be surprised how many libraries have outdated examples on their home pages due to recently changed APIs. And how many more will break when you try to do a basic example of your - rather then their - choice. And vast majority of that code is Open Source on GitHub. Oh, and I wrote one book on Solr and am writing another. Run a couple of workshops and presented at the Solr Revolution. And finally, I am now - slowly - starting to contribute to the Solr itself. So, it is very possible to contribute from the outside in, you don't have to start from the codebase itself. If somebody is actually looking for O/S projects and like the idea of the Apache Solr, feel free to contact me with details on skills you already have. I have a list of at least 20 different projects around Solr which require supplementary skills I don't have time to acquire. I'd be happy to play a mentor role if it contributes to the Apache Solr ecosystem. No absolute beginners though, I am not a school :-)