[rdoherty]

You can start writing patches now, there are tons of resources to get started. Pick a small bug on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ (even fixing a typo) and fix it. It may take a week, but who cares? You can get help via patch reviews and asking questions on IRC (irc.mozilla.org)

There is also a lot of resources on wiki.mozilla.org about all our projects and how to get started.

Don't let your inexperience stop you. It will certainly take a while to improve. All great programmers have years, even decades of experience.

There are also lots of other ways to help: QA (http://quality.mozilla.org/), Support (http://support.mozilla.com/), Review personas (http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/), and marketing (http://www.spreadfirefox.com/)

More info: http://www.mozilla.org/contribute/