This document summarizes Google Summer of Code (GSoC), including what it is, the stakeholders involved, and statistics from past years. GSoC is a program where Google funds student developers to work as interns on open source software projects. Open source organizations apply to be mentoring organizations and then select student projects. Students work over the summer under mentorship from contributors to the open source projects. In 2013, over 1,000 students from 70 countries were selected to work with 177 mentoring organizations. The document provides advice for students on how to apply and participate successfully.

1. Google Summer of Code (GSoC)
Sri Lanka Meetup
Harshana Eranga Martin
Associate Technical Lead - WSO2 Inc.
harshana@wso2.com
Committer, Eclipse Communication Framework Eclipse Foundation
harshana05@gmail.com
Eclipse GSoC Mailing List - soc-dev@eclipse.org
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© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

2. What is GSoC?
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Google picks Open source projects - Mentoring
Organizations
Mentoring organizations pick you - Student
You spent summer working for Google
Get to write code for Open Source Project
Google stipends for your work
Globally Diverse program
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© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

3. Stakeholders of GSoC Program
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Google Inc
Mentoring Organizations
Mentors
Students
© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

4. Mentoring Organization
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An Open source project/organization
E.g: Eclipse Foundation, Apache Software
Foundation
Organizations apply for the mentoring
organization position
Google selects based on openness, community
interactions, etc
Mentoring organizations select students
Appoint mentors for student projects.
© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

5. Mentor
• Generally a committers/contributors of a Mentoring
organizations/project
• Volunteer to mentor and guide the students
• Most of the time involve in Open source projects in their
spare time
• (S)He is your friend. Make it stays like that. Respect
him/her.
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© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

6. Why GSoC?
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Build your Personal Brand and Recognition
Recognition to your Alma Mater
Work on real world open source projects
Build your network
Opportunities
Your work gets rewarded
– T-Shirt
– Certificate from Google Inc
– Gifts
– Around 5000 USD
© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

7. Stats from 2013
Applications
• 5999 applications
• 4,151 Students
• 94 Countries
• 177 Mentoring organizations
Selections
• 70 countries
• 1192 Students
• ** For the 7th consecutive year, University of
Moratuwa in Sri Lanka has claimed the top spot!**

8. Stats from 2013
Country
# of 2013 Accepted Students
India
271
United States
143
Germany
68
China
65
Sri Lanka
56
Romania
42
Russian Federation
37
France
35
Spain
35
United Kingdom
35

9. A word of Advice - as a past Student
and as a present Mentor
Application Period:
• Contact Early and Often
• Communicate over GSoC and Project mailing lists
• Make sure your presence felt (in a good way)
• Research on the project ideas from previous years
• Working on open issues in Bug Trackers
• Be realistic and truthful about your commitments
• Use mailing lists effectively.. Interact with community and
other students
• Be polite and patient
• Show you are interested and keen on the projects
• Don’t make money the main incentive
© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

10. A word of Advice - as a past Student
and as a present Mentor...Cont
Community Bonding period & GSoC:
• Communicate often and be transparent
• Get to know your mentor and be friendly with him/her
• Do your homework first.. Don’t expect mentor to teach
you everything
• Follow the organizational standard best practices
General Rules:
• Use proper language - NO SMS language
• Be respectful and helpful to each other
• Don’t hijack mail threads
• Mentor is your friend but not your work buddy.
© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

11. Do Vs Don’t
Do
Don’t
Communicate Early.. Communicate Often...
Don’t be rude and offensive
Be thorough.. Do your homework
Don’t submit applications for the sake of doing it
Design the solution first before writing code
Don’t go AWOL
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http://google-opensource.blogspot.
com/2011/03/dos-and-donts-of-googlesummer-of-code.html
© 2013 by Harshana Eranga Martin and others, made available under the EPL v1.0

12. Q&A