Comment by thinkbohemian

If you want to get into:

  * Discussing technical issues with developers.
  * Learning about new technologies.

Check out http://www.codetriage.com. It will also help give you the tools you'll need to:

  * Explain new technology to customers.
  * Simplify technical issues for customers.

Pick a few open source tools that your company uses like http://www.codetriage.com/rails/rails and start reading issues. Eventually you'll learn enough to start helping out.