Getting into GSoC in First Attempt
# GSoC is more than just an Open Source Program
GSoC(Google Summer Of Code) is a global program hosted by Google annually focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development. Students work with an open-source organization on a 3-month programming project and receive awesome stipends.
GSoC is more than just an open-source program. It gives wings to your ideas and let you bring them to reality. It’s focussed around ideation and innovation. You’ve found a real-life problem and want to solve it?GSoC is the best place to make it happen OR you’ve got ideas to improve the existing technologies? Simply propose your ideas, convince the organizations that you can make it happen, and then get yourselves funded by Google and mentored by the most esteemed organizations of this world. Yeah, that's one of the best parts of GSoC other being the exposure you receive while working with such experienced and senior developers. (Of course, the handsome stipend you receive is an awesome part as well).
# My Journey Through GSoC
I am got selected into GSoC in 2020 and worked with Redhat(JBoss) as my organization. You can read about it here. It was my first attempt as I applied for the first time and got in. There are crucial steps to take that you should take which can affect your selection. Right things at the right time !!!
I’ll elaborate on what things I thought were important.
# Projects Announced: The most important stage
As soon as the projects are announced, the most important task begins. You’ve got to chose the projects, contact the mentor, and start working:
=> Choosing the project
There are basically three different categories in which you should be putting your projects:
1) Projects involving technology that you know well.
2) Projects that interest you but you don’t know the tech involved
3) A mix of the above two(you know the tech a bit and also interested in the project idea a bit)
The category number 2(in which you don’t know the tech at all) is a bit difficult compared to the other two categories. I’ll put these in the order of preference as 1>3>2. And then based on these iterate through your list multiple times and chose the best of all that you think you can do. As the time the remaining is very less, I’d suggest you to not go with more than 3–4 projects(even that is too much). Now after iterating the lists and finalizing your top projects move to the next step.
=> Communicating with the Mentors
This is another important thing that you should be doing after selecting your projects. Every organization has its own communication channel which you can join and start posting queries related to projects that you want to know more about and clear your doubts. Try to establish good communication with the mentors to learn more about their expectations and ideas about that project. You can always ask his help to know more about the tech but never ask anything which is available on Google. Try to do as much research as possible to know about that thing because that shows your attitude towards learning and it is one of the most important things from the mentor's point of view. For getting your application successful here’s what you should make the mentor feel about you:
1) He should have faith in you that you can complete the project.
2) You are highly adaptive and will not hesitate to learn new technologies.
3) You are open to new ideas and innovative solutions.
=> Starting to contribute
To convince your mentor that you have the capability to complete the project and you know/can learn the technologies involved, starting to contribute will is the most important thing. Your contributions can be as small but keep trying to contribute or elaborate the mentor through GitHub gists. You can also open a POC(Proof of Concept) PR(Pull Request). For example, I opened a POC- PR and it had a total of 68 commits and 104 conversations. You can see that here: https://github.com/starfixdev/starfix/pull/1
# Application phase begins
Many people think this period is only for writing the proposal but actually it's not true. You get very little time between the announcement and application phase so the best strategy would be to keep working on your project and parallely write the proposal. Take as much mentor input while writing proposal (like what method to go , what other ideas to pitch in etc). Asking him for review is always helpful so definitely ask him for it. And keep contributing and communicating until the next stage begins.
# Day of result
Keep calm you’ve worked hard and if everything goes well you’ll definitely be selected. Many people have worked hard but still don’t get in. Don’t get demotivated !! It may be possible that the organizations have a lesser number of seats available and you don’t get in.
# I didn’t get selected, can I still contribute?
Yes, definitely !! You’ve worked on that project already and you’re quite into it so why stop now. It doesn't matter that you got in or not you can still contribute to that project. Talk to the mentor and start working and there are a lot of opportunities that you get directly from the organization. And after all, you’ll be improving the technology this world is going to use by contributing to an open-source project.
# You think I can help? I’ll be glad to.
Reach out to me via:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahad00cms/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/just.live.it_
View my Projects here: http://github.com/fahad-israr
