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04 Apr

How to succeed or fail at Google Summer of Code

Posted by aross

This video is from a Google Summer of Code information session held at the University of Toronto. The event was a panel discussion involving panelists from 6 open source communities including:

Austin Ziegler - Ruby
Diego Novillo - Google
Blake Winton - DrProject
Nelson Ko - TikiWiki
Behdad Esfahbod - GNOME Foundation
Andrew Ross - Ingres

The panel had excellent advice and wisdom to share with interns. Some of the key points include:

Communication is key to your successs. Be responsive to questions and interact with your mentors OFTEN.
Establish a relationship with project team members. This is typically done by communicating in IRC/Email or attending community events.
NEVER copy and past the project ideas as is from the web site. Make the idea your own by being specific, providing a timeline, and interacting ahead of time by asking questions to define a realistic scope
Pick an appropriate project you can realistically accomplish. This may involve engaging the community to help you scope it.
Remember - you're not qualified... that's the point. So use the opportunity to learn and get a great experience.

The following are excerpts from the Google Summer of Code panel discussion. You can also See the entire video.