Now, for some real advice. 'Open Source' and microsoft don't exactly go together like peanut butter and jelly. Yes, there are some open source projects for the MS ecosystem but it's just not in the culture.
If you don't want to transfer your current skills to the Linux world, you should find a large, open source c# project and just run with it.
I think: By saying "appropriate" he wasn't really asking how to find open source projects in his language of choice, but how to know which ones will eventually get him noticed, or how to pick the open source project that seems to have meaning to other people, etc.
It appears that the op may have had a stroke of good luck by picking the perfect OS projects. It would be a bummer to extend yourself in an area that nobody cares about if the whole purpose were to get noticed.
If using Open Source as a self-promotion tool, it's important to choose wisely.
What's important is getting noticed by whoever you collaborate with. That helps you form a network. It doesn't have to be a high profile project it just has to help you form a network of friends who know you and can vouch for your work.
Yes! Exactly. Thank you for understanding what I meant.
I want to hear about the decision process behind how or why Zaphar chose the open source project he did, and how others here choose their open source projects?
Just a little advice, so that I too (and others reading), can (wisely) choose our first open source project to contribute to.
I just chose what I liked and had fun with. Hung out with people working on Blender. Hung out in the perl IRC channel on freenode. Hung out with a group doing an Open Source game called Planeshift which wasn't high profile in any way but it gave me experience. And put me in contact with people who had connections.
Hah I really like the IRC idea (especially since I don't know anyone like you do). Just joined the Ruby channel as a test at: http://irc.lc/freenode/ruby-lang
As an example of an excellent C# program that's pretty widely accepted in Linux/Gnome, why not take a look at Tomboy Notes? http://projects.gnome.org/tomboy/
There are lots of opportunities for addons/etc, and it's reasonably extensible. Could be a great first project.
I was never really that into the Microsoft world but others have mentioned places to look for OpenSource projects for those platforms.
There is no reason you can't move platforms or languages though. If you know C# or Asp.Net you know enough to get started in ruby, python, perl, or any other language. You don't have to limit yourself in this industry.
That is true. Funny you mention Ruby as I have just completed Code School's Try Ruby course this weekend!
However, how could I make any particularly meaningful contribution in a language I am just learning? I feel that any issues or new features in an open source project probably require some fairly advanced knowledge, no?
A lot of my blogging at that time was about what I was learning. In fact those posts were the most instrumental in getting me the job in Chicago. My blog showed up for a lot of howto searches for perl. Which got me noticed by a company needing perl programmers.
Blog about what you are learning. Your contribution will be helping others learn from your experiences.
You'd be surprised what you can tackle even when learning a new language. A lot of the bugs in an open source project aren't unfixed because they are tricky but because no has had time to work on them.
You're most valuable contribution will be time and willingness to tackle something.
There 18k+ open source repos on github for c#: https://github.com/search?l=C%23&q=c&type=Repositori...
There are 44k+ open source repos on github for java: https://github.com/search?l=Java&q=c&type=Repositori...
I'm not even gonna bother for Asp.Net.
Now, for some real advice. 'Open Source' and microsoft don't exactly go together like peanut butter and jelly. Yes, there are some open source projects for the MS ecosystem but it's just not in the culture.
If you don't want to transfer your current skills to the Linux world, you should find a large, open source c# project and just run with it.
Good luck.