So what is GSoC

Google Summer of Code is a global program focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development.

Students work with an open source organization on a 10 week programming project during their break from school.

Goals of GSoC

• Introduce you to Opensource development
• Help opensource projects to bring new developers
• Get more opensource codes written
• Give students an opportunity to work on real world projects

2020 Statistics

1198 Students

550 Universities

3592 Mentors

How to Prepare

Can you participate?

• 18 or older upon registration
• Enrolled in a University program
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
• Not accepted more than 2 times for GSoC

Selecting an organization

Figure out what you want to do

• What are the opensource softwares you use
• What are your interests
• What are your hobbies
• Your skills
• What you want from GSoC

Checkout Previous Years

• Go through previous GSoC organizations list
• Find some stable GSoC organizations
  • Find your passion
  • Select the organization you would love to work with
  • Shortlist like two organizations
• Find old GSoC projects of this community
  • Study them deeply
  • Checkout code repositories
  • Go through documentations
• Community Interaction
  • Find out mailing lists/forums
  • Discover chatting platforms
    • Slack/Gitter/Discord/IRC

How to Communicate

• Introduce yourself to the community
• Get some idea about the project
  • Read documentation
  • Try to build it from the source
• Ask questions
  • Now you may have some
  • Be humble
  • If you get any bad experience don't get discouraged
• You will meet people all around the world
  • Do not discriminate based on religion, ethnicity etc

• After Google Announced the selected organizations for the year, go through the list
  • If your dream organization is there you can jump in
  • Or find a new one
• When selecting an organization, look into projects as well
  • Pick an interesting project which fits you

Google Lists Selected Projects

and

Mentors

• Introduce you as a Student who likes to participate in GSoC
• Get familiarize
• Ask how you can help the organization
• Clarify any concerns about the project
• Make sure to be humble 

Project Proposal

Writing a Quality Proposal

About yourself

• Contact Details
  • Name
  • Title
  • Email Address/IRC nickname/websites
• Include a bio
  • Your education
  • Passions
  • Any experience etc.
• Mention your contributions
  • Some organizations have prerequisites before the proposal
  • Include Pull Request links etc.

• Include a Synopsis
  • Give a short summary about the project(do not copy-paste)
• Benefits to Community
• Deliverables
  • Breakdown your tasks with milestones and deadlines
    • Promise less, Do more
  • Include about
    • Investigation
    • Development
    • Documentation
• Related works
  • Find about similar products, compare them with your solution
• Follow organization rules

• Get constant feedback
  • From your friends
  • From lecturers
• Submit draft proposals early
  • Mentors will give you feedback
  • It can take few days
• Submit final PDF proposal

If your proposal contains a good solution,

there is a high chance to get selected

What If you were rejected?

• Don't be discouraged
• Get feedback from mentors
  • This will help you to prepare for next year
• You can still volunteer to the community
  • GSoC is not everything
• Stay connected
• Try a new organization
• Keep trying

During The Project

Community Bonding Period

• Arrange a meeting with mentors
• Schedule regular meetings
• Clarify more about the project
• Review your work plan
• Review milestones
• Get your development tools ready

Working on the Project

• Review your codes with mentors
• Attend Meetings
  • If you are unavailable, inform mentors
• Try to finish work on time
  • If you are unavailable due to exams or any reason, inform mentors
• Behave politely
• Always discuss with mentors
• Act professionally 
• Maintain a blog(if possible)
• Keep track of your work
• Be prepare for unexpected things

Finishing your Project

• Write documentation for your work
• Make sure your codes pass all tests
• Write some blog posts
• Check if you have achieved your targets in the work plan
• If your code meets the quality standards it will be merged to the codebase 🎉

Is that all???

You will get a certificate from Google

Don't forget your Payments

About payments

• For your commitment, Google offers you some money
  • The amount depends on the region
• This is paid in 3 stipends
  • You have to pass milestones
• You will be prompted to set up a Payoneer account
  • Can withdraw to any reputed bank

DON'T DO GSOC ONLY FOR MONEY

• GSoC is a good place to get familiarize with the software industry
• You can gain experience
• You will meet great people, learn from them
• Understand why people do Opensource
• Enjoy the journey

My Experience

with

Joomla!

Joomla!

• Joomla! is a Content Management System(CMS)
• Build websites and Online Applications
• Flexible architecture
• 100% Opensource
• Driven by community

• GSoC 2017 Student
• Worked on New Media Manager Team
• Became a core member after GSoC period
• Participated NMM Codesprint in Germany
• Became a GSoC mentor in 2018

Met my team

Mentorship

Lead Mentor

Niels Braczek

Student

Geetanshu Mathur

Conclusions