I'll follow the pattern here of expressing incredulity on the fact that my personal way of dealing with this is different from everybody else's ;-) Read code. Look around the internet for projects similar to what you are working on. Try to find and fix a bug or two in each. Concentrate on how you feel working on these unfamiliar projects. Was it straightforward to work on it? Was it fun to poke into? Did you feel straight jacketed in your approach? When you submitted the fixes, how was the reaction? Was it easy to get a positive reaction? Did people thank your for your contribution but then rewrite everything you did? Did they tell you that you didn't understand the issue and reject your contribution? These are all big clues on the success (or lack thereof) in the approach taken on those projects.