Contributing to open source for free is easier than landing clients. But your time is better spent looking for clients or just putting some code you have already written on Github. Just putting some code on Github lets recruiters check a box if that's all they are doing.

If a recruiter is looking for evidence of specific technical competence on Github (Java, machine learning, Angular, etc.), no matter what projects you work on, your work probably won't reflect the specific skill. There are just too many possible skills.

Anyway, working for free is about the worst approach to a career as a contractor/consultant/freelancer. Selling is hard and necessary.

Yes, I have a few complete code set with me which legally belong to me. I will find them and edit some and put in github. Thanks for the suggestions.

Why spend time editing? Having code in your Github account checks the box and a little editing isn't going to make much difference under detailed technical review. Spending time finding clients/customers is the most important thing you can do. It is also the hardest and so easier things that "seem like work, but are not" are always attractive.

You can search GitHub for open issues that need help: https://github.com/search/advanced

The commonly used label is "help wanted".

You can dig further. Some ideas:

* Issues which are not to old.

* Issues in repos with an average amount of stars (~100).

* Issues with a limited amount of comments.

* Issues of users which project/coding style you like.

...

Thanks for the useful information. I will look into that.