People's experience of contributing to online Programming projects

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Narrac
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Have seen in a number of posts here on PF, suggestions that people get involved in online open source projects to help practice their programming skills. In particular projects with physics/science applications.

Just wondering if many people have tried this and want to share their experience of doing this, and what projects they worked on?
 
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I would second this question expecially in regards to science open source projects.
 
That is a good question. People always say that open source work is great for a programming resume, and for good reason- being open source means that the place you're applying to can directly look at the code you've written. But I think most open source projects that are being actively developed are too advanced for a beginner- you need some experience first before you can dive into, say, the Linux kernel. So when I was looking for programming jobs I just made my own programs and put the source code online. Github is usually the place people use for this.
 
Not many replies, hope that is not a sign that people's experience was so bad they don't want to talk about it!, or else no one is taking the advice and getting invloved in the first place!

In my own case, I have 'good' experience in programming from work, but, I always think that rating your ability is very subjective and as a result am cautions about getting involved in any projects for fear of getting in the way or holding things up by not being as good as what is expected.

Anyway, was just hoping to hear some other people's experience before I take a plunge and mess up someones project.