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Summer of Code Student Applications Now Open

Posted by kdawson on from the getting-paid-for-it dept.

The accepted Google Summer of Code 2007 mentors list is now complete at the Summer of Code website — 131 projects could use your help. Student applications are open and the end date is March 24. Google has an application guide in the Summer of Code Announce discussion group that provides more information on the application process.

4 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. What about rejected organisations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Our project - a fairly well known OSS project got rejected. We had a good comprehensive list of projects (that, IMO, rivals some of the big players in the announced list).

    We received no explanation of any kind. I understand that Google doesn't owe us anything, but surely some feedback will help us improve in the future, especially that we are trying to garner some corporate support.

    Anyone in the same boat? any ideas why this could happen?

    1. Re:What about rejected organisations? by gstein · · Score: 4, Informative

      In the next couple days, I'll be posting a rough summary of some of the things that we looked for this year in the applications. Please watch the google-summer-of-code-discuss mailing list.

      The first year, Chris DiBona and I just winged it and picked out about forty projects that we knew. In 2006, a bunch of people emailed us, and we manually picked some. This year, we had a web application to help organize the process, but the selection is still based on a manual review. We had something like 240 applications to sort through(!)

      I understand it is disappointing, but we had to pare the list down. A lot of people are asking "why not me?", and students will ask it in a few weeks, too, when their proposal is not accepted. We probably should have come up with some advice beforehand, but this stuff is always a rush. We have a bit on the AdviceforMentors wiki page, but I'll create a whole separate page for organization applications.

      Sorry if you weren't selected, but I hope you'll understand that we had to trim the list.

  2. Any companies other than Google? by starseeker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Google has been doing this now for some years with what appear to be fairly impressive results - I wonder if we might start to see other companies pick up on this a little. What about, say, the major Linux distributions sponsoring some projects for the major open source desktops? Or universities sponsoring some scientific software (I was very interested to see fityk on the supported list this year)? Or perhaps IBM could sponsor some work? There should be many possibilities.

    Google is supporting quite a lot of work and a great many projects, but it is unavoidable that many useful projects will fall though their net - they have only so much support they can offer. I would be interested to see other companies either partner with Google or do on their own what Google is doing - if Google can do so much, what could 5 or 10 more companies using the same basic method accomplish?

    --
    "I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
  3. Re:Pay really sucks by gstein · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You know... we get this every year. Some whiner says "they don't pay well enough." Fine. My thought is always, "do something else with your summer."

    Last year, we spent over $3 million on this program. This year, we're increasing that to $4 million. That means 800 students get an introduction to Open Source around the *world*. Your narrow view of life says the pay sucks. I don't think students in India would agree with you. Last year, an eastern European student used the money to start his own business.

    Those 800 students are going to have a nice little entry on their resume which will read a lot better than "flipped hamburgers at the local burger stand." These students will get to interact with some of the best Open Source organizations on the planet. And work with mentors who can show them how these communities work. They will produce more code, for the benefit of *everybody*.

    It is a fair bet those 800 students will produce more this summer than all the people who complain about the "low pay" will produce in *years*. I'm happy and fortunate to be able to do this, and I know there are thousands who are willing to participate. And I'm happy they will have a great attitude about it.