Students and developers wishing to participate in Summer of Code must realise this is a important professional opportunity. You will be required to produce code for IHR during the coding period. Your mentors, IHR researchers, will dedicate a portion of their time to mentoring you. Therefore, we seek candidates who are committed to helping IHR long-term and are willing to both do quality work, and be proactive in communicating with your mentor(s).
You don't have to be a proven developer -- in fact, this whole program is meant to facilitate joining IHR and other Open Source communities. However, experience in coding and/or experience with networking data analysis is welcome.
You should prepare your working environment and start learning the components or datasets that you plan on working on before the start date. Feel free to ask questions via github issues, at [email protected], or on slack. The timeline from Google reserves a lot of time for bonding periods; use that time wisely. Good communication is key. You should plan to communicate with your mentor frequently, and formally report progress and plans weekly.
Please read the GSoC FAQ and Google's instructions for participating.
All participants will need a Google account in order to join the program. So, save time and create one now.
- Read GSoC Student Manual, especially the advices for writing a proposal.
- Read IHR handbook for contributors to make sure you understand the goals of IHR and how to contribute to our code base.
- Take a look at the list of ideas.
- Come up with a project that you're interested in.
- Write a first draft proposal and get someone to review it.
- Submit proposal using Google's web interface ahead of the deadline.
- Submit proof of enrollment well ahead of the deadline.
Submit your proposal early: early submissions get more attention because mentors have more time to read them. The more people see your proposal, the more it will be discussed.
Do not leave it all to the last minute: while it is Google that is operating the webserver, it would be wise to expect a last-minute overload on the server. So, be sure you send your application and proof of enrollment before the final rush. Also, applications submitted very late will get the least attention from mentors, so you may get a lower vote because of that. Submitting a draft early will give time for feedback from prospective mentors.
Keep it simple: Be concise and precise. Provide a clear, descriptive title. "My Project" is the worst possible title!
Know what you are talking about: Do not submit proposals that cannot be accomplished over a summer or that are not related to IHR. If your idea is unusual, be sure to explain why you have chosen IHR to be your mentoring organisation.
Aim wide: submit more than one proposal, in different areas of IHR. You are allowed to submit to another organisation as well. If you do submit more than one proposal, tell us that and which proposal you would choose, if both were selected. Former students would advise you to do one or two kick-ass proposals rather than trying to do three.
Your primary responsibility is finishing your project under the guidance of your mentors. To do that, you must submit code regularly and stay in frequent and effective communication with your mentors and team. To pass the evaluations, you must do both the communication and the coding plus documentation.
Content based on https://community.kde.org/GSoC and available under Creative Commons License SA 4.0