Yes. I’m pretty much in the same situation, although I’m no longer junior 
I wrote code walkthrough while exploring the Gitea codebase. I’m yet to receive feedback and guidance, but I’m patient. The key for me, as a new Gitea contributor, is to create more value upfront than I ask in return. In a nutshell, if I spend 24 hours (that’s approximately what it took me to write the walkthrough) contributing, there is a good chance someone knowledgeable will find it worth 1 hour of their time to help me out.
I would suggest you follow a similar path to contribute to the Gitea frontend. I.e. write code walkthrough as you explore the Gitea codebase at GitHub - go-gitea/gitea: Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD. If you already have a GitHub account, you can even work on an issue. If you are comfortable with using Discord you can chat at Gitea and maybe get help/feedback. I would help you if I could but I’m yet to explore the Gitea frontend.
Once you’re somewhat at ease with Gitea, you’ll be a great asset to forgefriends: there is a need for frontend modifications to implement federation.
Does that sound like an appealing way forward?