Slashdot Mirror


Google Summer of Code Results

Nattfodd writes "Almost two months after the projects, deadline, partial (but fairly complete) results of Google Summer of Code are here. The completion rate of projects (and thus payment of the students) was approximately 90%, which would certainly qualify for a 'huge success' of the operation. Summer of Code paid more than 400 students of 49 countries to spend their summer helping open-source projects, 4500$ on completion. Now we just have to wait for the T-shirts..."

47 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Nice idea, poor pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its a nice thing for Google to try to do, but who were they really targeting at that pay range? A decent summer internship in CS pays 2-4 times that much.

    1. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      People on scholarships. Do you have any idea how much weed you can buy for $4500?

    2. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by Jussi+K.+Kojootti · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Did you consider that the internet, and this program, are accessible also from outside of your country?

    3. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by iambarry · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Who says that many of those who participated in summer of code didn't also have summer CS ineternships?

      --Barry

    4. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by Cornflake917 · · Score: 2

      Students who like deciding their own work hours
      Students who want to get a full time job with Google
      Students who are interested in the type of projects that Google has available

    5. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by jzeejunk · · Score: 3, Funny

      but who were they really targeting at that pay range

      our brethren in banglore? ;)

      --
      sarchasm
    6. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by abscondment · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm doing a 6 month internship right now. I'll net $17,000. If it was only a summer thing, I'd be getting around $9,800. This is in addition to full benefits, and up to 7% of my pay matched when I purchase stock. Honestly, this isn't even with a tech company; they just pay IT interns really well.

      So yes, 9k to 18k for a summer internship.

    7. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by moo083 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you have skills but no experience, this is a way to get something on your resume.

    8. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I hope you enjoy working on the helldesk for the next 40 years. Those users aren't going to get any smarter y'know.

      These guys have a *major* flag on their CV now. They have some solid open source coding experience. They can go out a choose a job now. But I wouldn't mind betting some of them won't take the best paid option. Some projects out there are just interesting to work on. Once you're off the breadline, there is more to a good job than cash. I work for a university. I don't get the best pay, but I *love* my job. I frequently work weekends and long evening, because I want to. Becuase I'm paid to think about interesting questions and build neat things. I hope some of the google coders get the same chance.

    9. Re:Nice idea, poor pay by mattwarden · · Score: 2, Informative

      First: It really wasn't about the pay. The pay was damn nice, but it wasn't about that.

      Secondly: I and many others also had part time jobs/internships.

  2. No VB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They didn't accept my VB entry?!

  3. How about a winter of code? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That was sucessful. Lets follow it up with a winter of code, and give the OSS world a christmas present

    1. Re:How about a winter of code? by joebutton · · Score: 2, Funny

      > "Winter of" can only be followed by obviously bad things

      Seen in the window of a British camping shop during the winter sales:

      "Now is the winter of our discount tent"

  4. Sir! Sir! by tygerstripes · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is 400 bigger than a Google?

    --
    Meta will eat itself
  5. dollars by termos · · Score: 3, Funny

    $4500. No problem.

    --
    Note to self: get smarter troll to guard door.
  6. Good idea! by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 4, Funny

    Get the next iteration of programmers comfortable with their tools and API's.

    I'm suspecting the future is going to smell like AJAX...

    Also, while barely literate, I'm pretty sure that dollar sign goes before the ammount...

    --
    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
  7. So much publicity and all you win is... by TarrySingh · · Score: 4, Funny

    4500$!...geez!

    --
    Scott McNealy to Michael: "Suck my Sun!" Michael Dell to Scott : "Lick my Dell!"
  8. Other Results: by Quaoar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Percentage of summer of code participants getting laid: 0%

    --
    I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
  9. Interesting Demographics by mikesmind · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I scanned through the list and am intrigued by the demographics. I was surprised that there weren't a few more women. I always knew that programming was dominated by men, but I didn't realize it would be that far skewed. The shop I work in is primarily COBOL and we have a good percentage of women working here. Perhaps that skewed my perception.

    --
    www.mikesmind.com - www.daddyworkathome.com - www.freetofarm.org - www.tenfoottable.com
    1. Re:Interesting Demographics by university+chica · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm a senior in computer science at a university that has a total of 17000 students. I'm also the only female student in my graduating class. Conservatively, I'd say there are maybe 7 other female students in CS who've made it to their junior year. CS loses 99% of female students, and it's half way through the semester, so we may have lost a couple more. For a little perspective... there are over 100 guys in their junior or senior year. I don't understand it. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend their entire scholastic career surrounded by a collection of the geekiest men the university has to offer?

    2. Re:Interesting Demographics by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 2, Funny
      I will continue to quote my CS professor Max "Mad Max" Mintz until he is no longer relevant:
      Some people say that the girls don't like computer science, but I don't think that's true. I think girls don't like the boys in computer science.
      I think that'll be forever. The guy sitting in front of me in the lecture immediately responded, "Hey! I resemble that remark!"
      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    3. Re:Interesting Demographics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
      Maybe if they got more woman doing Computer Science (in particular open source projects) then things like Linux and Pearl wouldn't be so insanely and unnecessarily over-cryptic.

      Are you kidding me???

      Exception stack by a male:

      javax.servlet.ServletException: InvocationTargetException:
      javax.security.cert.Ce rtificateException: X.509 not found
      at org.infohazard.maverick.ctl.Throwaway.perform(Thro waway.java:58)
      at
      org.infohazard.maverick.flow.ThrowawayControll erAdapter.perform(ThrowawayCon
      trollerAdapter.jav a:40)
      at org.infohazard.maverick.flow.CommandBase.go(Comman dBase.java:46)
      at org.infohazard.maverick.Dispatcher.service(Dispatc her.java:115)
      at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:853)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChai n.internalDoFilter(Application
      FilterChain.java:2 47)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChai n.doFilter(ApplicationFilterCh
      ain.java:193)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve. invoke(StandardWrapperValve.ja
      va:243)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      66)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo ke(StandardPipeline.java:472)
      at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(Cont ainerBase.java:943)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve. invoke(StandardContextValve.ja
      va:190)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      66)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.valves.CertificatesValve.i nvoke(CertificatesValve.java:2
      46)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      64)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo ke(StandardPipeline.java:472)
      at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(Cont ainerBase.java:943)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.invok e(StandardContext.java:2343)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.inv oke(StandardHostValve.java:180
      )
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      66)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorDispatcherValv e.invoke(ErrorDispatcherValve.
      java:170)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      64)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.in voke(ErrorReportValve.java:170
      )
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      64)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invo ke(AccessLogValve.java:468)
      at
      org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invo keNext(StandardPipeline.java:5
      64)
      at

  10. Man look at the names by Anonymous+Crowhead · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's like a "Who's Who" list of who's not American.

    1. Re:Man look at the names by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dan Eagleflash.

  11. Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by Work+Account · · Score: 3, Interesting

    $4500 for a summer of work ->

    Summer = 12 weeks

    1 work week = 40 hours

    Total = 480 hours per summer

    BEFORE taxes, this is $9.30 / hour.

    I can make more at McDonald's especially considering meals are discounted 75%.

    --

    If you "get" pointers add me as a friend (116)!
    1. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by mrpotato · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You just had to complete a project during the summer. It doesn't mean you've worked 40 hours on it. You simply had to meet the deliverable. Some people got paid considerably more than 9.30$/hour, and have a much better experience to put on their CV than "flipped burgers for 4 months".

      --

      cheers
    2. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by kertong · · Score: 2

      Your logic is flawed.

      Where else can you earn $9.30/hour for contributing to an open source project? And who benefits from it? Why should google pay them more than $9.30 an hour when there are no other offers on the table?

    3. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by schon · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can make more at McDonald's

      Wow, McDonalds is hiring coders?

      especially considering meals are discounted 75%.

      Yeah, but the downside is that it's McDonalds "food".

    4. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by ameoba · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How many McDonald's workers get to work on a project of their chosing, on the hours of their choice, having control of how they do it and not having a high-strung highschool dropout bitching about drive-through time averages being 5s over the target time?

      --
      my sig's at the bottom of the page.
    5. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by Beatbyte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How much would you sacrifice to get experience, build your reputation, and have Google on your resume?

    6. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by HavokDevNull · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your assuming everyone is from the USA or EU no?

      India
      GDP per capita $480
      Unemployment rate 8.8%
      Labor force 406 million
      Population below the poverty line 25%
      Typical salary for a programmer $8,000 year = $4.16 an hour

      source http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/india_pr. html

      If I lived and was a programmer in India Google would be a good choice considering only two months of work!!!!

      --
      Sig
    7. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by pherthyl · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bull. There was no requirement to work all summer long. I did about 3 weeks of full time work.

      $4500/120 = $37.50/hour. I'd say I'm happy with that. The trick was to come up with an innovative idea that didn't require too much coding. Of course if your proposal was to write a MS Windows clone in COBOL then you've got other problems.

    8. Re:Google pays MCDONALD'S wages by mattwarden · · Score: 2, Informative

      Where in Zeus's name did you get your 40 hours/week number from?

      I would say I spent about 150 hours on my project. That puts me at around $30/hour before taxes.

      There is no time requirement. You propose a project. If it gets accepted, you spend however long it takes to get it done. At your leisure. Whenever you want.

      And I'd like fries with that, please.

  12. Hmmm, interesting projects by totallygeek · · Score: 5, Interesting
    • Ivan Barrera A, Chile: Bandwidth Limiter For Apache - When a user starts downloading something, the data goes through the mod. If there is a bandwidth limit, then the mod will start "splitting" the data into smaller pieces. Then it will start sending each piece with a small delay (less than 1 sec) between each piece, thus, reducing the speed the user downloads. This is useful for small web-hosting servers with limited outbound bandwidth (i.e. ADSLs customers).

      I don't even have that limited of bandwidth and I would like to see this mod in production. Very needed code IMHO.

    • csaba, Hungary - Fuse / BSD / Network mount via SSH

      This is what I have been waiting for since the dawn of time. Well, not that long, but I have always wondered when I would be able to mount remote file systems via secure shell.



    1. Re:Hmmm, interesting projects by harryk · · Score: 5, Informative

      Secure Shell file system mount has been available as a module for some time. ssh_fs.o I think, or something, but it works sufficiently enough.

      the project is here: http://shfs.sourceforge.net/

      enjoy...
      harryk

      --
      think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
    2. Re:Hmmm, interesting projects by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Informative

      don't even have that limited of bandwidth and I would like to see this mod in production. Very needed code IMHO.

      http://cband.linux.pl/
      http://www.steve.org.uk/Software/mod_curb/
      http://www.snert.com/Software/mod_throttle/ This one might be best, I've looked at it before.
      http://www.topology.org/src/bwshare/README.html

      Or you could just dupe an ask.slashdot.org by asking something like:

      http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/07/18/02 31229&tid=4&tid=2

      I'm really surprised this is not part of Apache by now.

  13. Other MozDev projects: by MTO_B. · · Score: 5, Informative

    The list of projects says "Please note that this page contains a sampling and not a complete listing of the projects done as part of the Summer of Code."

    The MozDev (related to Mozilla / Firefox) projects missing from the list are:

    - Cockatoo: SIP phone extension for Mozilla Thunderbird
    http://cockatoo.mozdev.org/

    - Firepuddle: BitTorrent P2P for Mozilla
    http://firepuddle.mozdev.org/

    - Event Loger (An advanced macro and testcase creation tool for Firefox)
    http://eventlogger.mozdev.org/

    - Muzzled: graphical theme builder for mozilla
    http://muzzled.mozdev.org/

    - Vietnamese translation of Firefox
    http://vi.mozdev.org/

  14. I'm a woman in CS by dptalia · · Score: 3, Informative
    And with the exception of one job, I've always been the only woman on the programming team. I even had an employer ask me if I was okay with being the only woman. My response: "And this differs from the past 10 years how?"

    At college most of the women went into chemical engineering, or varients (geological, biological, and there was one other which I can't remember). I don't know why more women don't care to program, but low stats for women doesn't surprise me a bit.

    --
    Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, which is why engineers sometimes smell really bad.
  15. Re:Some got paid considerably LESS than $9.30/hour by kebes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Math may not lie, but people can misrepresent what's going on.

    Google didn't pay these people anything. Rather, it provided grants/scholarships to people interested in working on open source code. People (coders and/or organizations) submitted proposals for ideas they wanted to work on, and Google selected some worthy ones that they would give extra money to, so as to encourage students to spend time doing some open-source coding.

    Google was not hiring these people to work on specific projects that get added to the portfolio of Google products. Everyone involved could have turned down the grant money if they had a better offer. But for these students, who would have likely worked on these (or other) open-source projects over the summer anyway (to bolster their CV and/or because it's fun), the grant was probably a welcome bonus.

    Everyone benefits from the open-source software that has been produced by these (partially funded) volunteers. Remember that the people working on these projects were contributing to open-source projects that are, by and large, non-commercial. That is, the summer-of-code people got $4500, whereas everyone else working on the project got $0. They are doing it because they want to. It is not a (traditional) job.

  16. T-Shirts? by The+Rizz · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Now we just have to wait for the T-shirts..."

    "I coded open-source software all summer, and all I got was $4500 and this lousy T-shirt" ??

    1. Re:T-Shirts? by arrow014 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As opposed to all the students who coded all summer and didn't even get a T-shirt?

  17. mod_smtpd (?) by pergamon · · Score: 2, Funny

    So I noticed mod_smtpd in there.

    Is there some corollary to the well known quote like "Every daemon attempts to expand until it can schlep mail" that I'm not aware of?

  18. Re:Some got paid considerably LESS than $9.30/hour by Cornflake917 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So the average GSoC participant worked on their project 40 hours a week? Can I see where you got these statistics please?

    Even if you're right...

    $9/hr is 75% (thats (9.00-5.15)/5.15*100% ) increase over minimum wage. Maybe to you that is "scant" more than minimum wage. But to someone who's never had a job or has only had minimum wage type jobs, it's not scant at all.

    You say mathematics don't lie. However, I fail to see you actaully use any mathematics to prove your point.

    Also it seems you left out a few obvious things like:

    - Working at Walmart sucks ass.
    - Working for one of the GSoC project might be fun and a good learning experience.
    - The GSoC project will look good on your resume.
    - Working at a fast food place or as a cashier won't get you coding experience.

  19. Re:This was posted 6 WEEKS AGO! by HanClinto · · Score: 3, Insightful

    *don't feed the trolls, don't feed the trolls*... bah. I'll bite and reply.

    If you remember anything about the article from 6 weeks ago that you posted a link to, then you would remember that it was extremely thin as far as details went. Did you look at many of the projects when it was "officially over"? If you had, you would remember that a quite a number of them hadn't turned in their final versions yet, nor had they turned in their final reports (and if they had finished/turned in the report, then it wasn't available yet for public access, it had only been turned into their project supervisors).

    If you went to college, then maybe you remember that college students have a "habit" of turning stuff in at or after the deadline? The SOC was no different. That's why you don't get your grade results until a week or two *after* it's over. It takes time to figure out what-the-heck-happened during the flurry that was the deadline.

    You would have preferred this in a slashback then? Perhaps -- I for one was glad to see this, and I look forward to more updates as this list is completed. It will be good to see some more information about the results of the SOC, and what can be changed to improve it in the future.

    There was plenty of new information in this new article, after having read both of them, I frankly don't see what you're griping about.

    Next time, complain about a legitimate dupe. If things are as bad as you say they are, then you should have no trouble finding a real one.

  20. Re:Your logic is horrendous by miyako · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's amazing that google gives away 2 million dollars to benefit the open source community and you complain because it wasn't enough.
    The Summer of Code wasn't a job. Google did not higher people to write code for them and play them only $9/hour.
    Google instead offered students a chance to do some work with real OSS applications and to work with people who have experience developing with the OSS applications. They also gave each person who finished their project $4500 and $500 to the mentor (I think the mentor got the money regardless of if the coder finished his or her project or not) as a sort of bonus for perseverence.
    The Summer of Code was sort of like a big round of bounties for code, except instead of deciding before hand what to put a bounty on they let the developers come up with ideas and then they picked the best ones.
    Unfortunately none of the three applications I put in for the Summer of Code were accepted (and I will try to keep the bitterness toward the people who did complete their projects to a minimum ;) and the money would have been nice- but more importantly the Summer of Code really got me to look at some of the neat programs that still need to be written, the interesting things that still need to be contributed. I've always wanted to do more to contribute to open source, but I found it exceedingly hard to figgure out where to jump in. The Summer of Code helped a lot of people like me, projects accepted or not, by showing how we can get started helping the community that has built so much great software that we use every day.
    (And by the way, I am working on one of the programs that I had originally submitted in an application, and IDE/Front End and Debugger for QCL, the idea being a way for non-physisist programmers to ease into learning about development on quantum computers. I hope to have an early release done sometime soon).

    --
    Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
  21. Southern Hemisphere Summer by paul.schulz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Google Summer of Code fitted in with northern hemisphere student
    timetables.. what about Southern Hemisphere students?

    - South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Brazil, New Zealand,
    and Brazil (no particular order, and by no means exclusive) are some of the
    countries that would have students that could participate.

    Maybe Canonical/Ubuntu could run a Southern Hemisphere Summer of Code?
    or, in the spirit of open source and open markets, southern hemisphere students
    can hook into Ubuntu's bounty program.

    http://www.ubuntu.com/community/bounties/view?sear chterm=bounty

    A 'do it yourself' summer of code... anyone want to sponsor the T-shirts?

  22. Re:Your logic is horrendous by lordofthechia · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Summer of Code wasn't a job

    Aye, thank you! Google was just offering money as an incentive for people (students) to do volunteer work! I mean c'mon, it's really win win. Even if obviously google chose projects that they were mostly interested in, they mated alot of CS students with making real contributions to open source projects (how many folks do you know that would like to do something but are just to shy or unmotivated to take the first step to volunteer?).

    To summarize:
    * Tons of extra progress made in a myriad of OSS projects
    * A whole bunch of students got some spending money to *volunteer*
    * These students are very likely to continue volunteering now that they have taken that first step
    * Alot of volunteers have a really awesome addition to their resume
    * Those same folks now have their foot in the door at Google
    * Google gets some of their favorite projects worked on, develop further goodwill with the OSS community, and they set an awesome example to the business community.

    Heck, next folks will be complaining about the peace core paying too little...

    --
    Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.