Google Summer of Code
So, applications to Google's Summer of Code are open again. This time they're taking applications earlier in the year, to facilitate earlier selection to give the people selected more time to get to know and understand the projects before they start working on them.
I've looked at GSoC previously. I think this is the third year they're doing it.
It's a great way of getting developers to do things for the open source community and get paid, rather than working ass a check-out clerk at the local supermarket.
For those of you who don't know what GSoC is, it's basically a program where different open source organizations register with google as mentoring organizations, and if accepted, google will pay student developers of their choice to work on the project over the summer, when the students need to find some job to keep up with the rent payments.
It's a wonderful idea really, and it helps google spread even more goodwill to the FOSS (Free/Open Source Software) community.
I was excited about GSoC before, and I'm excited about GSoC this year.
I'd really want to participate, learn new things, write code for a good cause and get payed, but there's a slight problem.
Absolutely none of the suggested projects or ideas entice me in the slightest. I mean, they seem like good projects with regards to what they bring to the project, but it's still shit work. Most of the stuff that's in the ideas is basically bug fixing that the "regular" (if FOSS has such a thing) developers haven't taken care of yet.
They have some pretty heavy hitters as mentoring organizations, but after having browsed through around 50% of the suggested project ideas from the most interesting organizations, I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably never be on the short list (or any length of list for that matter) for any of these projects. They just don't seem interesting enough. In fact, they seem downright boring.
However I do hope that someone finds them interesting enough to write some proposals, because it's a damn good idea. Also, if I was in the position to hire someone as a software development, having participated in the GSoC would look very good on your resume.
I've looked at GSoC previously. I think this is the third year they're doing it.
It's a great way of getting developers to do things for the open source community and get paid, rather than working ass a check-out clerk at the local supermarket.
For those of you who don't know what GSoC is, it's basically a program where different open source organizations register with google as mentoring organizations, and if accepted, google will pay student developers of their choice to work on the project over the summer, when the students need to find some job to keep up with the rent payments.
It's a wonderful idea really, and it helps google spread even more goodwill to the FOSS (Free/Open Source Software) community.
I was excited about GSoC before, and I'm excited about GSoC this year.
I'd really want to participate, learn new things, write code for a good cause and get payed, but there's a slight problem.
Absolutely none of the suggested projects or ideas entice me in the slightest. I mean, they seem like good projects with regards to what they bring to the project, but it's still shit work. Most of the stuff that's in the ideas is basically bug fixing that the "regular" (if FOSS has such a thing) developers haven't taken care of yet.
They have some pretty heavy hitters as mentoring organizations, but after having browsed through around 50% of the suggested project ideas from the most interesting organizations, I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably never be on the short list (or any length of list for that matter) for any of these projects. They just don't seem interesting enough. In fact, they seem downright boring.
However I do hope that someone finds them interesting enough to write some proposals, because it's a damn good idea. Also, if I was in the position to hire someone as a software development, having participated in the GSoC would look very good on your resume.
posted by Markus at
3/16/2007 01:44:00 AM
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