What exactly do you intend to create? How is it going to earn you an income? And most importantly, how do you intend to "pay it forward"! Even a donation is an investment!
I intend to create an RSS Reader as a start. Most of such projects will be self-productivity apps. But, when I am convinced I'm ready to create full-fledged apps, I will move on to create a game (for a start) that I had in my mind since years.
To be honest, at the moment, I'm not really into earning an income from creating apps for WP. I just do it for the fun, maybe even earn if possible. When I actually reach to a point, when my skill becomes professional enough. I would want to look for opportunities related to my current activity.
Contact your local MS rep. I nearly every market, the MS evangelism people have devices for people to test on.