I do some consulting where I'm paid to fix specific bugs / add specific features to various open source projects, often in Python data science world. Usually it goes something like:

1. Figure out what the project's contribution guidelines are.

2. Check out code, figure out how to build it and run tests.

3. If it's a complex task, might want to build some credibility with maintainers first, so might contribute tiny fix first.

4. If it's a complex task, try to engage maintainers to see if they'll accept it, and to get hints on how to approach it. They may be hard to reach, so this might take a few days or a couple of weeks, though I'm not working during that time, it's just delay.

5. Do the actual work.

6. Go through whatever code review process. Sometimes I might need to gently ask for reviews if it sits for too long.

$80 total for all the above is laughable. And to be fair I ask for a good amount of money because I am good at what I do, and there are people who live in much cheaper places than Boston area and could charge less.

For $80, you'd have to both have an extremely low cost of living and already be an expert on the project for this to be in any way worthwhile.