The best way to add value to Ethereum: Contribute

It seems like Eth really gains it's value from the quality of the distributed apps ran upon it. Currently from what I see, most things ran on the ethereum network are second level coins and tokens. Is there something that we are missing? Is there another usage of the ethereum network that we can leverage? As a software engineer I'm excited about the idea of a distributed internet, what sort of projects can we contribute to that can further this cause?