Google Summer of Code 2023 • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#51

Post by em-bee » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:39 PM UTC

TheLoop75 wrote: post #48

I'm currently a cs masters student and write my thesis this summer (dont have a project yet). I wonder if I will be able to find a project in GSoC and write a thesis with a mentor ?

the focus of GSOC is code, so your thesis would have to be very code heavy for that to work. do you have a topic yet? if not, look at what organizations/projects fit your field of study/interest, and talk to your supervisors if you could write a thesis around one of those.

then (if accepted) you work on the code for GSOC and write your thesis for your school.

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#52

Post by em-bee » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:42 PM UTC

timmg wrote: post #50

Dumb question: is this only meant for students/non-professionals? It seems like a fun thing to do in retirement :)

it's now open to anyone who is not already an active FOSS contributor.

and yes, it does sound like a great way to start a new hobby for your retirement days.

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#53

Post by MattJ100 » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:43 PM UTC

commodorepet wrote: post #45

I took part in GSoC in 2007, it change my whole life. Coming from Eastern Europe and with very little English it exposed me to experienced engineers from Silicon Valley that I would never think to contact. That lead to an internship at NASA a year after, and those references lead to a Ph.D. from Ivy League and a career in AI. That short acceptance letter turned to my life upside down and I can't be more grateful that…

Snap! 2007 was my year too, and yes, it really sparked everything for me.

Very new to the community, my accepted GSoC project was adding some features to an XMPP library. I discovered recently that this library is in use by the Zoom desktop client.

Now, 15 years later, I'm the Executive Director of the XMPP Standards Foundation and our organization is still participating in Google Summer of Code. It's great to have new people in the community, especially the ones for who GSoC is that same spark it was for me and many others, and the ones who stick around long after GSoC ends.

GSoC 2007 was also the year they gave us Karl Fogel's Producing Open-source Software book (he managed to sign every copy!). This amazing instruction manual, combined with the GSoC experience, gave me the confidence to launch my own open-source projects (such as the XMPP server software that powers things such as Jitsi Meet).

I'm really glad that the GSoC programme continues, and hope it will deliver the same kind of impact for new generations of developers and open-source projects.

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#54

Post by red-iron-pine » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:44 PM UTC

assdontgot wrote: post #43

iliekcomputers wrote: post #2

GSoC basically changed my entire career. I'm glad that Google keeps this running, especially given that they got rid of other cool competitions like Codejam. Hopefully, they can continue finding the budget for these extremely valuable contributions to open-source.

do share some google employment stories, as these are aging well haha

Sigh. Lots, arguably most, of those laid off were tech-adjacent, not necessarily the core-engineering types that would have been doing GSoC.

Plus GSoC is for the youngbloods, the noobs, and getting their feet wet with real code and big orgs. It's a career starter, not a career bastion.

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#55

Post by gabanutrition » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

em-bee wrote: post #52

timmg wrote: post #50

Dumb question: is this only meant for students/non-professionals? It seems like a fun thing to do in retirement :)

it's now open to anyone who is not already an active FOSS contributor. and yes, it does sound like a great way to start a new hobby for your retirement days.

I've been contributing to FOSS once in a while, but I don't considered myself an active one. I want to be one tho.

Can I still participate?

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#56

Post by TheLoop75 » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 3:08 PM UTC

em-bee wrote: post #51

TheLoop75 wrote: post #48

I'm currently a cs masters student and write my thesis this summer (dont have a project yet). I wonder if I will be able to find a project in GSoC and write a thesis with a mentor ?

the focus of GSOC is code, so your thesis would have to be very code heavy for that to work. do you have a topic yet? if not, look at what organizations/projects fit your field of study/interest, and talk to your supervisors if you could write a thesis around one of those. then (if accepted) you work on the code for GSOC and write your thesis for your school.

Thanks this helps. Yes I want to combine software development with some sort of machine learning. I think this applies to almost every analytical field. In GSoC Orgs like learning software for kids are interesting. But I have to dive deeper into the projects offered..

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#57

Post by AddictedA1 » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 3:15 PM UTC

u have to start from earlier with jumping in between likely not gonna get, open there dev chat already 50 people for 4 position 8 will be mentor. They not gonna prefer outsider, from december stick around a lot then have best proposal likely gonna get.

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#58

Post by ulfw » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 3:19 PM UTC

red-iron-pine wrote: post #54

assdontgot wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do share some google employment stories, as these are aging well haha

Sigh. Lots, arguably most, of those laid off were tech-adjacent, not necessarily the core-engineering types that would have been doing GSoC. Plus GSoC is for the youngbloods, the noobs, and getting their feet wet with real code and big orgs. It's a career starter, not a career bastion.

[flagged]

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#59

Post by manca » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 3:31 PM UTC

Glad to see this is still going. I was sad to see CodeJam being shut down recently. We need more programs like GSoC and CJ as they encourage students to take a part of something great and contribute to the open source community.

My GSoC year was 2010 and it was definitely an amazing experience -- not just getting to meet and work alongside amazing community, but also to sharpen my software engineering skills, improve communication and have fun along the way.

If you're a student, please find something interesting you'd like to work on and apply! Find where the folks hang out and reach out to them! They'll be happy to help you get started! Back in the day we used irc.freenode.net as our communication hub for pretty much all OSS talk, but I am sure there are Slack or Discord servers now available for most projects.

Have fun!

Re: Google Summer of Code 2023

#60

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 3:45 PM UTC

red-iron-pine wrote: post #54

assdontgot wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

do share some google employment stories, as these are aging well haha

Sigh. Lots, arguably most, of those laid off were tech-adjacent, not necessarily the core-engineering types that would have been doing GSoC. Plus GSoC is for the youngbloods, the noobs, and getting their feet wet with real code and big orgs. It's a career starter, not a career bastion.

[deleted]