All the developers currently active in OpenBSD have followed the same process: scratch their own itch.
Start using OpenBSD. Notice things which are not perfect (there are a lot of them), fix them. Get noticed. Once you send enough correct fixes, you get an account. If your fixes are bogus, we will usually tell you they're bogus. It's not our job to hold your hand. We value autonomy a lot. It's fairly easy to find things to do: just look on the various mailing-lists. It's very easy to find stuff at your level, whatever that might be. Don't expect to become a rock-star overnight. All people in OpenBSD have grown over the years. The best way to do sexy things is to start with the grunt work, and to move up from there.
