How to get started?

Hi,

I've been playing around with C# for about a year and have the basic theory of OOP.

Does anyone have any advice on getting started? Is there some small project team I could join somewhere that are developing something really really simple?

I just need to get my hand dirty now. HELP!

The first project I ever worked on in C# was a sockets project with a client and a server. First i built a sync server, and then I got my hands dirty with an async server. It definitely helps to learn how to communicate cross threading between clients and the server, along with learning how to NOT make illegal cross thread calls in winforms. 2 main sources for the best code to get you started: MSDN & Google. If your looking for projects to join, I highly suggest searching sourceforge for project types that your interested in and BEFORE you ask to join a team I would suggest looking through the code they have posted. Get familiar with their project before you go ahead and jump in as a team member (So that you know you aren't jumping into the deep-end). I would definately suggest to try and find a bunch of source code covering all sorts of aspects of the language. I am not a fan of many C# books out there, just because of the fact that they aren't what they're cracked up to be (Be sceptical of things like "Learn C# in 5 days" because it wont teach you everything there is to know about C#, but it could possibly give you the "Dirty hands" your looking for).

Good luck in your endevor!