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Summer of Code Now Taking Student Applications
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue May 02, 2006 11:22 PM
from the fame-and-fortune dept.
from the fame-and-fortune dept.
chrisd writes "Just wanted to let you know that we've opened up the student application process for the Summer of Code. We've signed up ~100 mentoring organizations this year, including Apache, Postgres, Xiph, The Shmoo Group, Drupal, Gallery and many others. We're accepting applications through May 8th this year."
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Summer of Code 2006 is On 117 comments
chrisd writes "The Summer of Code is officially on again this year. As of today, we're taking in applications from mentoring organizations, so watch that list of mentoring organizations grow! Then, starting May 1st, we'll start taking student applications.
We've prepared two FAQs, one for Mentors and one for Students. We've also have created an IRC channel and Google Group for you. The website for the Summer of Code can be found at http://code.google.com/soc/."
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Freenet also participating in SoC (Score:5, Interesting)
Blender (Score:3, Interesting)
There are all sorts of cool things that could be done as projects, pretty much any siggraph paper, any computer graphics research, etc. would make a good candidate.
LetterRip
Nmap too! (Score:5, Interesting)
I think those are some of the coolest projects, though the page lists others (and is always growing as I get new ideas). And don't forget, you can always propose any new idea you come up with -- don't feel limited to that list.
And while we hope you consider Nmap, remember that you can increase your odds by applying to multiple projects. I've seen some pretty cool ideas from the other organizations.
-Fyodor [insecure.org]
Parent
This is good (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This is good (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Wikipedia (Score:5, Informative)
ffmpeg, nice! (Score:5, Interesting)
If you use mplayer, you rely on these libs. If you use xine, you rely on their work. If you use VLC - same. Heck, even if you use Media Player Classic + ffdshow on Windowz you use their libs.
Thumbs up!
(No, I have nothing to do with them. I do use their libs in my project though, and they are nice).
Re:ffmpeg, nice! (Score:2)
BeOS/Haiku was rejected. (Score:2, Interesting)
It's sad that they didn't even bother to reveal the reason why they refused.
Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected. (Score:3, Informative)
Haiku isn't a reinvention of the wheel anyway. It's an improved implementation of it. They've fixed many of the errors Be made the first time around and the aim of R1 is to build a solid base from which the platform can be extended. In terms of user experience, I'd argue that BeOS still beats the pants off Linux. That's not to say Linux isn't great, it is, but I think there's something to be said for an OS built from the ground up specifically for desktop use.
Re:BeOS/Haiku was rejected. (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Internet2 is a mentoring organization (Score:5, Informative)
Many, many other projects need help (Score:5, Informative)
What I would like to say, though, is that I noticed at least a few people felt left out - their projects weren't accepted, or they didn't meet one or another entry requirement. (Hell, I've a whole bunch of projects that I could use help with! I'm working on some games, some crypto stuff, some utilities... Nothing quite like the smell of shorted-out synapses!)
I really do urge those who don't want (or can't) code for SoC but do want to get involved in a project that needs help to contact any of those who are mentioning projects being short of coders. We can't all pay or give prizes, but volunteer work on any serious project can be enjoyable and can be a good addition to a resume in some cases. (Volunteer work experience is still work experience.)
Re:Many, many other projects need help (Score:3, Interesting)
Adium (Score:3, Informative)
vs internship? (Score:5, Interesting)
On the con side, the pay seems slightly low. You work from home only talk to your mentor over the internet, which seems like it might distract from the learning experience. I've telecommuted before, and while it might seem convenient at first, there are numerous related to communication, and being able to go home at the end of the day and be a psycologically non-work space that detract from those advantages. Probably the biggest problem is staying in touch with people who are in different time zones, or who merely have different working schedules. In a telecommuting situation, some people work at odd hours.
Maybe someone who worked on the summer of code previously could comment on how easy or hard it was to keep in touch with his mentor? Were there many mentors who basically ignored partipants (no need to name names)? How helpful were they in general?
Overall, as I see it the strong benefit is to be able to come up with your own project, and to be able to work on open source. Those kind of go hand in hand to give the participants a lot of freedom in what they do. For me, this would be worth the negatives mentioned above.
I guess one last factor to address, that might be merely a tie breaker for some people or a deal breaker for others, is just how good it will look on a resume. College students looking for internships are looking for work experience, but also an opportunity to break into the industry. Will future employers look at there resume's and think, "He worked for a big name company over this summer, came up with his own project and executed it." Alternatively, an employer might wonder about time spent in such an unstructured way, and wonder if participants goofed off all summer. I sincerely doubt this, but its something to consider and maybe something someone in a hiring position in industry could comment on.
Internet Archive, too (Score:3, Interesting)
- Gordon @ IA
Work on Mars! (Score:4, Informative)
You college students are lucky! (Score:4, Insightful)
When you are a little kid, you have tons of time, but little skill, so you spend a lot of time being bored.
When you are an adult, you have a lot more skill and you're capable of doing great things, but so many things compete for your attention (job, house/apartment, car, family) that it's harder to chase big ideas. The people who do so become the abnormal people we call "startup founders."
College is this great crossover where you're just becoming good enough to do great things, but it's still normal to live in a totally non-domestic way. It's the time to chase big dreams.
Google is not only giving you lots of great ideas for interesting work and arranging for mentors to guide you through the learning process, but they're paying you to do it! Find a project that sounds up your alley, and do it!
A small problem? (Score:3, Informative)
I see a small potential problem however: In some 3 months, one is supposed to implement a project. Fair enough, but doesn't that usually require significant familiarity with the code of that project? How is a student expected to have this familiarity? Does he/she get it while working on the project or is he/she supposed to already have it?
This is a point that has stopped many enthusiasts. They are afreaid that, while they are experienced coders, they have no idea how Program X works, and are afraid to even try to extend it.
Has this been adressed in any way?
Re:A small problem? (Score:3, Informative)
Each student has a mentor to guide and assist him/her throughout the SoC.
http://code.google.com/soc/studentfaq.html#6 [google.com]
http://code.google.com/soc/mentorfaq.html [google.com]
Re:Age requirement (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Age requirement (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Age requirement (Score:3, Insightful)
I would imagine that anyone interested in doing one of these jobs for no pay is quite welcome to do so, 18 or not.