I don't think the Linux kernel is a good example here. The vast majority of people who commit to it are paid to do so by their employers, and if you're just get

I don't think the Linux kernel is a good example here. The vast majority of people who commit to it are paid to do so by their employers, and if you're just getting started then committing to the kernel is probably a bad idea anyway. There are a tonne of smaller projects who will gratefully accept submissions and not be such a pain. It's easy to view Linux as the centre of the open source community, but in practice it's not. A much easier way to get involved in open source is just to do so as part of your normal life - when you're using a library and find a bug, submit a fix - if there's a feature you've added and found useful, submit it as a PR. It might not be well received in every case, but it will in many.