March 20: 16:00 UTC Student application period opens April 03: 16:00 UTC Student application Deadline **Note** There is a new requirement that you submit all materials in PDF form. See below.
This timeline is decided and published by Google, see the full timeline on the official page.
The following are specific guidelines for students to use to submit an application for the GSoC program through the Fedora Project. Please go through these carefully and follow them. Applications must be complete by the deadline listed above. Late applications cannot be accepted.
Student Application Process
Learn
Before you do anything, learn about the program and Fedora. These links may be helpful:
- GSoC official site
- GSoC 2016 FAQs
- The Four Foundations of Fedora
- General GSoC Guidance
- Mailing List Guidelines
Communicate
Begin communicating with the community. Our community members can help you understand the existing project proposals. If you're going to try and propose your own project, this is a great way to understand the needs of the project and find a mentor.
Don't forget to contact mentors on projects that interest you to learn more. If you're going to propose a project you must have a mentor at the time of proposal.
Apply
The application for students is split into three main parts. All parts need to be completed by the due date.
1. Google Summer of Code Application
2. Supplemental Application Materials on the Fedora Project Wiki
3. Additional Fedora Requirements
Google Summer of Code Application
Submit the application/proposal at the Google Summer of Code Site
Note: You must submit a PDF version of all of the information you prepare with your application using the Google site. The PDF should consist of the information from the supplemental application requirements section below. It should also contain any custom project you are proposing, if any.
We are not allowed to consider students who do not submit this PDF. Students will not be judged on the visual layout of their PDF, however all information must be readable. It is acceptable for you to submit PDF printouts from the wiki.
Supplemental Application Materials on the Fedora Project Wiki
Chose a project for proposal from Summer_coding_ideas_for_2017. While it is possible to propose your own project, it is often more successful for you to select one that is already proposed by a mentor.
Create a new wiki page to hold your application. The url should look like https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/GSOC_2017/Student_Application_Yourusername
, replacing Yourusername
with your actual Fedora Account System username.
You should include the information that is relevant to the project your are selecting or proposing as well as information about you, your background, etc. The following format provides some guidance:
- Contact Information
- List your Name, Email Address, Blog URL, and any additional contact information you think we need. We tend to email so be sure you're reading your email.
- About You - Consider these questions
- Do you have any past involvement with the Fedora Project or another open-source project as a contributor? What kind of contributions have you made (code and non-code)? Please share any public contributions you have made (urls, etc.)
- What are you studying? Why?
- What motivates you to do your best? How do you stay focused? Briefly describe how you organize your work.
- Why Us? - Consider these questions
- Why do you want to work with the Fedora Project?
- Do you plan to continue contributing to the Fedora Project after GSoC? If yes, what sub-project(s) are you interested with?
- Why This Project? - Consider these questions
- Which specific project interests you? If you are proposing your own project, do it here. If you are proposing the project, explain why it benefits the community.
- Have you contacted the mentor(s) listed for the project?
- What relevant experience do you have for this project?
- What do you want to gain from this project?
- Describe this project in your own words. What does it mean to you? What do you think the final deliverable is?
- Why should we choose you over other applicants?
- Propose a rough schedule for this project. Ideally you will have regular deliverables throughout the entire period.
- What are you specific plans from May to September (eg: Exams in university, internships, vacations..etc). We need to know if there are periods of time where you are likely to be unavailable. We are better at accommodating these periods if we know of them in advance.
Additional Fedora Requirements
Students need to do the following as part of the application process:
- Create a FAS account FAS Account Signup / Login Page
- If you can't edit the wiki (see next step), email Brian (bex) Exelbierd, the primary administrator with your FAS ID and request access.
- On the project wiki https://fedoraproject.org/wiki, create a user page. Do this by opening a new web browser tab and going to
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Yourusername
, replacingYourusername
with your actual Fedora Account System username.- This user page template provides a basic layout that you can copy. You can also look at the markup for other users' pages. Here's a selection of some nice user pages:
- Do not forget to add the Summer coding <year> category to your page, for example for 2017:
[[category:Summer_coding_2017]]
- When you save the page, remember to click 'watch this page' at the top.
- Join the fedora-summer-coding mailing list Fedora Summer Coding Mailing List - This list is fairly low volume.
- Join the devel mailing list Devel Mailing List - this list can be higher volume you may wish to use mail filters appropriately.
- Sign the FPCA by following the directions here
Let others know
Let others know about your submission by forwarding your application URL with a brief description about your proposal to the summer-coding mailing list.
Keep communicating
We cannot overstress the importance of communication. Keep talking, and listening, to the discussion group, to the sub-projects relevant to your proposal and to potential mentors. Be patient, as mentors and other contributors are often very busy people.
Need Help?
If you need help, use the methods described at GSOC_2017#Communication.
You also find this example application helpful: GSOC_2012/Student_Application_Bckurera