
With M.Sc. finally obtained and no chance to get a real job I want to do some full-time volunteering in an open source to gain experience with larger projects and tools. Yet I will be a liability for the project for some time so I want a project with people enthusiastic enough to help me become useful ("google this" helps a lot when you did not know 'this" before).


I checked some OSS projects in C++ (freeorion code as well) and realized that I can understand the code and probably even contribute somewhere. Yet tools is my big problem.
I would also be interested in learning .NET languages or Python yet I have no prior experience with it. Also .Net is not very OSS friendly.
I want a project near v0.5-0.6 with much to be done yet ability to see the effect of the patches, and a project that does not require too much domain specific knowledge.
Any suggestions as for the project I should look closely at? Any suggestions ("google this" form is welcome) as for mastering tools?