Summer of Code 2006 is On

chrisd writes "The Summer of Code is officially on again this year. As of today, we're taking in applications from mentoring organizations, so watch that list of mentoring organizations grow! Then, starting May 1st, we'll start taking student applications. We've prepared two FAQs, one for Mentors and one for Students. We've also have created an IRC channel and Google Group for you. The website for the Summer of Code can be found at http://code.google.com/soc/."

Comments

Re:Dear Students,

[SeaFox]

You have years of 'summers of code' ahead - at your job. Try something else while you have the chance.

Yes, but those summers of coding will be heavily deadline driven and for projects one probably doesn't want to work on that much. Whereas a 'Summer of Code' is more about working on something of personal interest and learning. It's more a workshop than a day-job.

Maybe Summer of Code is too narrow?

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize that the program is called Summer of _Code_, but I think a lot of open source projects could benefit just as much from dedicated QA or documentation work. I mean, I've seen a lot more people complain about gaim's instability than its lack of a "music messaging" feature =P.

Re:Dear Students,

[someone300]

Summer of code:
- Working on something you enjoy
- Possibility of getting 4500 USD personally and 500 USD for your favourite OSS project
- Doing something that will benefit at least one person somewhere else in the world, if not many thousands.
- Practice for future job probably
- Something reasonably unique to put on CV

McDonalds
- Boring, hot, horrid job
- Shit money
- Further perpetuating the problem of obesity and heart problems by providing overweight middle aged men and women and their kids, for whom they can't be bothered to cook a nutritious meal, with their daily dose of fatty dead animal
- Time spent doing repetitive tasks that require no skill or thought
- Just another generic teenage job to put on your CV, if mentioned at all

Re:Dear Students,

[It'sYerMam]

If you're going to do CS, don't even bother listening to this guy. You get out of University, and all the job offers are asking for experience. I don't think they mean experience in McDonalds. Summer of Code is a way to make a quick buck, doing something fun and challenging that will look hella good on a CV or application. I don't see any negative points except for the effort required...