One way to assess yourself is to see if you have unique ideas. However, ideas are dime a dozen. Do you have the skills to deliver something like this? Either yourself or by building a team that can perform.
Can you do something useful with the technical skills you have? That is what matters in the initial stages of career. Here is an example of what students do while they are still in college. If you think you are ready, check if you have passion for programming.
We provide limited categories here. We hope to expand this list.
Problem Solving
See if you can answer some of these questions on StackOverflow (without looking at the answers if there is an answer already).
Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems.
Programming Practice
Software Projects
The world needs your help. You do not have to come up with any project unless you have clear vision and you can assemble a team to assist you in implementing a good idea you have. If you think you are ready (check your readiness) to take the plunge into a live project, here are some suggestions:
Get involved in an Apache Foundation project. You can be a developer. Understand how it works. You can aspire to be a committer for one of the Apache Projects or become an Eclipse Committer.
Check out freecode.com and sourceforge.net for active projects and see if the owners are looking for any help.
Browse through code.google.com and see if there is anything that interests you. Even if the owner is not looking for help, you may want to review the current issues of your favorite project and see if you can fix them off-line. You will find projects with meaningful and serious needs on Google Summer of Code. Getting selected for participating in this program is not that easy. That should not stop you from creating any solution to prove yourself to the world.
If you are interested in education here is one way you can contribute - Create an Activity for use on Sugar Platform by children. Or lend a hand in making Sugar better.
Virtual Labs
English Language Skills
GATE
Vendor Labs and Certifications
Cisco Learning Network. Store (not free). How to study for CCNA free.