Google Summer of Code 2012
João Paquim
My name is João Paquim, and I'm working on my application for GSOC 2012.
I could use some tips from you guys, I'm having some difficulty choosing something to work on, I've spent some time looking at the Ideas list, but I can't help but feel a little lost. There are many things that would interest me, but I would need some guidance in preparing the application. How many people regularly have their GSOC applications rejected?
Here's what it currently looks like, I've filled in whatever I could:
"
Name:
João Paquim
Email Address:
main: jonhy...@hotmail.com
secondary: jonhy...@gmail.com
Freenode IRC Nick:
JPaquim
IM Service and Username:
Location (City, Country and/or Time Zone):
Lisbon, Portugal (GMT)
Proposal Title:
Motivation for Proposal / Goal:
I've wanted to get involved with an open-source project for some time, but always found making the move a bit too mind-perplexing.
GSOC makes this a lot easier, making the whole thing more comfortable when it comes to contacting the organizations, besides providing financial incentive.
I want to know what it feels like to be a part of a large project, and take my software development skills to the real world.
Implementation Details:
Tentative Timeline (in weekly intervals until 2 weeks after the end of GSoC):
.
Do you have other obligations from late May to early August (school, work, vacation, etc.)? Please note
that we expect the Summer of Code to be a full-time, 40-hr a week occupation. It is important to be clear
and upfront about other commitments that you may have during that time.
I'll have classes until 25/05, 6 tests from 2/06 until 15/06, and recovery exams from 23/06 until 29/06.
I'll try to avoid the recovery exams, and even with all the tests, I'll still be pretty available during June.
I have no obligations during July or August, however.
About Me (let us know who you are!):
I'm a first year Aerospace Engineering student at IST, and I've been interested in programming for a couple of years now.
I started out learning Python. I learned basic programming concepts, but stopped for some time, I can't really recall why.
A year ago, I decided to try out Linux. I started with Ubuntu, jumped around between the different flavors and other distros based on it:
Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, among others. I resumed my Python learning, learning a bit of PyQt, and after some time decided to tackle C.
During my first semester at the University, I had a class on programming (with C).
I worked on a project (a game using the Allegro library) and finished the class with a grade of 19 (out of 20).
On my free time, I learned C++, a bit of Common Lisp and Prolog, and some Bash scripting.
I'm really kind of addicted to programming and the variety of languages out there ;)
Nowadays, I'm using Arch Linux with KDE 4.8 as my main OS, I have been learning Qt for a couple of months and the KDE libs, git and x86 assembly for about a week.
"
Cheers,
João Paquim
Teo Mrnjavac
Hello João,
Thanks for contacting us.
GSoC is a very competitive program, I don't have the exact numbers at
hand but the spots are limited so I expect that more than half of the
proposals aren't accepted. For those KDE hosts the Summer of KDE, a
program similar to GSoC where KDE provides a mentor to a student, the
only difference is that the student doesn't get paid.
In my experience, for a GSoC project to work the student needs to be
strongly motivated for his/her project. I suggest you take another
look at the ideas page - I can't choose a project for you ;) Once you
pick an idea, if you need guidance it's best to write to the mailing
list of the project that would mentor your idea.
Cheers,
--
Teo
>> Visit http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel#unsub to unsubscribe <<
João Paquim
> Subject: Re: Google Summer of Code 2012
> To: kde-...@kde.org; jonhy...@hotmail.com
First of all, thank you very much for the answer.
So do you think I have a shot at getting a spot? Or are the other participants way ahead of me in terms of skills? Should I look for another GSoC project to apply to? Can I apply to multiple organizations? Do you reject proposals based on what sort of thing?
My problem isn't lack of motivation, rather lack of orientation. The application template has such things as "Implementation Details" and "Tentative Timeline", which I have a hard time filling in right now, as I lack the predictive capability (mostly because I've never done this before) and in terms of implementation, I have no idea what to say...
Cheers,
João Paquim
Teo Mrnjavac
Hello,
I can't tell you how much of a shot you have, I don't think it's
appropriate nor possible to judge someone a priori like this. You can
apply to multiple organizations (you can find this kind of information
in the GSoC FAQ). We get a number of proposals and a limited number of
slots: based on the number of slots some proposals make the cut and
some don't. It depends on the quality of the proposal, every student
prepares a proposal to convince us he or she is the best person for a
certain job. See [1] for information on how to make a good proposal.
If you feel you don't have the necessary skills to prepare a detailed
proposal with implementation plans and a detailed timeline, it might
be that GSoC is not the right program for you this year. Still, KDE
might have something to offer you outside of GSoC, such as Summer of
KDE, which is somewhat less ambitious and you still get a mentor.
[1] http://teom.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/how-to-write-a-kick-ass-proposal-for-google-summer-of-code/