Thank you for your reply.

I'm not interested in getting into cryptography research since I find it too theoretical. I agree with you about how it is a small field and I think I'll have a very small chance to make a valuable contribution to anyone if I get into cryptographic research.

I think I'll follow your advice on contributing to OSS crypto projects. I've used openssl and crypto++ but I've never really contributed to a real project.

Thanks again.