Should I contribute to open source projects as a newbie?

Contributing to open source is a great way to build some contacts, and experience with pro-bono work, while working on code that helps the programming community! The important part is to find a project that is welcoming to newcomers. There are some great sites out there to find suitable projects, including Code Montage, 24 Pull Requests, and Code Triage.

If you want to know about what issues could be good for you, get in contact with the open source maintainers and ask them if you can help out. Just make small commitments at first, and remember that contributing to documentation can also be just as helpful as contributing to the code base :)