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<!DOCTYPE html>

<head>

<title>Python GSoC – Home</title>

integrity="sha384-nn4HPE8lTHyVtfCBi5yW9d20FjT8BJwUXyWZT9InLYax14RDjBj46LmSztkmNP9w" crossorigin="anonymous">

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<![endif]-->

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<!--[if lte IE 8]>

<![endif]-->

</head>

<body>

</a>

<a class="pure-menu-heading" href="http://python-gsoc.org">Python GSoC</a>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="index.html#gettingstarted" class="pure-menu-link">Getting

Started</a>

</li>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="index.html#ideas" class="pure-menu-link">Project Ideas</a></li>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="deadlines.html" class="pure-menu-link">Deadlines</a></li>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="students.html" class="pure-menu-link">Students</a></li>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="mentors.html" class="pure-menu-link">Mentors</a></li>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="https://blogs.python-gsoc.org/en/"

class="pure-menu-link">Blogs</a></li>

<li class="pure-menu-item"><a href="index.html#contact" class="pure-menu-link">Contact</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head content-head is-center">Students</h2>

<p>GSoC is basically an open source apprenticeship: students will be paid by

Google to work under the guidance of mentors from an open source community.

It's a really great opportunity to build new skills, make connections in your

community, get experience working with a larger and often distributed team,

learn, and, of course, get paid.</p>

Time commitment

</h3>

<p>Students are <a

href="https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/faq#how_much_time_does_gsoc_participation_take">

expected</a> to work around 30+ hours a week on their GSoC project,

over the course of the 3 month program.

This is essentially a full-time job. Ideally, you should not attempt to do

another internship, job, or full-time schooling while you're doing GSoC.</p>

</div>

Application Process

</h3>

<p>To apply, you need to <a href="index.html#ideas">take a look at the mentoring

organizations and the ideas that they are willing to sponsor</a>. Typically,

you'll choose one of their ideas and work with a mentor to create a project

proposal that's good for both you and your chosen open source community.

Sometimes, projects are open to new ideas from students, but if you propose

something new make especially sure that you work with a mentor to make sure

it's a good fit for your community. <strong>Unsolicited, undiscussed ideas are less

likely to get accepted.</strong></p>

<p>Note that Python is an "umbrella organization" which means that our team is

actually a group of python projects that work together to do Google Summer of

Code. If you're going to apply with us, you'll need to choose from one of

those teams, because that defines which mentors will be helping you with your

applications. <strong>Applications without any sub-org and mentor to

evaluate them will be rejected.</strong> You can work with more than one

sub-org while you're figuring out what you want to do.</p>

<p>

Once you've narrowed it down to a project idea or two, <a href="index.html#apply">use

the application checklist</a> to prepare your

project proposal. (You

href="https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/faq#can_i_submit_more_than_one_proposal">can

submit up to three proposals</a>, but will only be offered one position if accepted.)

</p>

<p>All applications are must be sent through the Google system.</p>

</div>

Selection Tips

</h3>

<p>Google intends this to be a way for new contributors to join

the world of open source. The students most likely to be selected are those

who are engaged with the community and hoping to continue their involvement

for more than just a few months. <strong>It's more important to be a good community

member than it is to be a good coder, for most projects!</strong></p>

<p><strong>Read the instructions.</strong> A large number of students don't read the instructions

when submitting proposals,

and their applications get rejected. For example, every year we reject a number

of students who submitted a resume, scientific paper, presentation or other file that doesn't

contain any information about the project they would like to complete. Sometimes we get

dozens of nearly identical form letters from a single university that wind up marked as spam.

Don't do this!

</p>

<p><strong>Listen and use feedback from others</strong>. Every year, we reject a few students who

simply wouldn't listen to their mentors.

Remember: the mentors are using their interactions with you to figure out if it's worth

their volunteer time to work with you. No one wants to have an intern who doesn't listen, and

students who don't listen also don't produce code that the open source project can use,

so students who don't listen don't get hired. Nor do students who are arrogant jerks,

or who violate the

<a href="https://www.python.org/psf/codeofconduct/">Code of Conduct</a>. <strong>Be professional

and show that you will take the mentoring relationship seriously.</strong>

</p>

</div>

<p>Here's some resources so you can read up more on how to be an awesome

student:</p>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://google.github.io/gsocguides/student/">The

GSoC student Guide</a> -- This is a guide written by mentors and former

students. It covers many questions that most students ask us. Please read

it before asking any questions on the mailing list or IRC if you can! New

students in particular might want to read the section

<a href="https://google.github.io/gsocguides/student/am-i-good-enough">Am

Good Enough?</a></li>

<li><a href="https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/resources/">Google's

list of resources</a> -- Note especially the <a

href="https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/faq">Frequently

Asked

Questions</a> (FAQ) which does in fact answer 99% of the questions we get

the main GSoC IRC channel.</li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head content-head-ribbon">Python GSoC Frequently Asked Questions</h2>

<ol>

<li><a href="#choosing">How do I choose a project or sub-org? (or What project should I

choose?)</a></li>

<li><a href="#knowledge">What do I need to know to participate in Summer of Code

with Python?</a></li>

<li><a href="#dearsir">How should I address my emails? (or Why shouldn't I start

my emails with "Dear Sir"?)</a></li>

<li><a href="#unanswered">What should I do if no one answers my question?</a></li>

<li><a href="#slots">How many slots does python get? How many slots does project

$x get?</a></li>

<li><a href="#previous">Where can I find information about previous

years?</a>

<li><a href="#selectiontips">What can I do to have the best chance of getting accepted?</a></li>

<li><a href="#meflin">Why does Meflin always say no?</a></li>

</ol>

</div>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head is-center">How do I choose a project or sub-org?</h2>

<p>Choosing a project is a pretty personal choice. You should choose something you want to

work on, and none of us can tell you exactly what that would be! But here's a few

questions you might want to ask yourself to help figure that out:</p>

<ul>

<li><strong>What software do you already use?</strong> If you use the software, you know a lot

about

it and probably have stronger opinions about what would make it better!

<li><strong>What would you like to learn?</strong> GSoC is meant to be a bit of a learning

opportunity.

Have you always wanted to be more involved with biology? Astronomy? Mathematics?

Education? See which projects might help you improve your skills.

<li><strong>Who do you like working with?</strong> Hang out where the developers do and get to

know

some of

your potential mentors. Which developers inspire you?

<li><strong>How do you want to change the world?</strong> Do you want to help people learn

more?

Communicate better? Understand our world better? Lots of python projects can help you do

social good!

<li><strong>How do you like to communicate?</strong> Do you like realtime communication on IRC?

Perhaps you

should choose a project with mentors close to you in time zone. Do you like asynchronous

communication on mailing lists? Find a group with active lists. Communication is a big

part of summer of code (or really any open source development in a team) to finding a team

that works the way you want to work can make your summer more awesome.

</ul>

<p>There's <a href="http://python-gsoc.org/index.html#ideas">a list of sub-orgs for this year</a>

and

<a href="#previous">lists of sub orgs who have participated in previous years</a>

Be aware that all sub orgs might not be able to participate every year, and make sure to

check and see if they're planning to participate before assuming.</p>

<p><strong>If you're chosen as a GSoC student, you're going to be expected to make some decisions

your own, so you can make a better first impression on mentors by showing that you're able

to narrow down your field of choices!</strong></p>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head content-head-ribbon is-center">What do I need to know to participate in

Summer of

Code

with Python?</h2>

<p>The answer to this depends a lot on the project you choose. We have a range of projects,

from beginner to advanced. Each of the sub orgs expects different things from their

students: maybe you'll need to know a bit about machine learning, or email, or image

processing. The answer to this question is always <strong>ask your mentors what you will need

know for a specific project.</strong></p>

<p>But a lot of people ask early on because they want to be sort of generically ready but

they're not sure what they want to do yet, so that's not always super helpful.</p>

<p>So here's a list of a few things that are useful for most Python umbrella projects:</p>

<ul>

<li><strong>You need to have a bit of experience with Python.</strong> You can be a

beginner, but

practicing in advance is good! And there are a lot more projects available for students

who are reasonably used to the language, so more practice means you'll have more

project

options.

</li>

<li><strong>You need to feel comfortable asking questions</strong>, because we're going to

expect you to

ask if you don't understand something.

</li>

<li><strong>You should be comfortable communicating your ideas to others in

public.</strong> Most projects

have public mailing lists and would prefer if you use them, and Python students are also

required to blog about their work over the summer. You can use a pseudonym (nickname)

that works best for you. Google will need to know who you are to pay you, but we just

need something to call you.<br /><br />

All students are required to post weekly, there are 2 types of posts students will have to

make, the first is the weekly check-in. For a weekly check-in every student will have to

answer these 3 questions in a post; with each answer being <100 words.<br /><br />

<ul>

<li>2. What is coming up next?</li>

<li>3. Did you get stuck anywhere?</li>

</ul>

<br />

The second post is a blog post, here a student will be required to go into some detail on

what they are working on, what they struggle with, and what solutions they have come to.

There is no formal structure to this and every student is welcome to use their own style but

the above three questions should be answered in the blog post at some point.

</li>

<li><strong>You probably want some experience with version control.</strong> We have a lot

of projects that

use different tools, such as git, mercurial, or bzr, and you can find out which one

your

project uses in advance and practice using it on your schoolwork or personal projects

get used to it.

</li>

<li><strong>You might like to take a bit of time to read <a

href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/">the

python style guide,

PEP8</a>.</strong> Not every

project uses these rules, but they can give you a rough idea of what is considered

"readable code" by most pythonistas. (And for fun, you might want to read the poetry of

<a href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/">PEP20 "The Zen of Python"</a>)

</li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head content-head is-center">How should I address my emails? (or Why shouldn't I

start

my emails with "Dear Sir"?)</h2>

<p>If you want to make the best first impression, <strong>DO NOT start emails with "Dear

Sir."</strong> Python

has many mentors who are female and/or prefer other forms of address. We realize you're

trying to be polite, but "Dear Sir" is often perceived in our communities as alienating,

rude or simply too formal and off-putting.</p>

<p>Try "Dear developers" or "Dear mentors" if you're sending a general email. If you're

addressing a specific person, use the name or nickname that they use on their emails.

Culturally speaking, first names or chosen nicknames are fine for most open source

projects.

</p>

</div>

<p>You'll hear this phrase sometimes on IRC, and it means "please just ask your question,

don't say something like 'can I ask a question?' first."</p>

<p>Why? Developers are often pretty busy, and if you just ask the question, someone can jump

in the minute they see your message with the answer or direct you to folk who can answer

it better.</p>

<p>If you ask "can I ask a question?" you're basically just waiting for someone to say "yes"

before any useful information is communicated. Many folk consider this slow, annoying, and

perhaps even rude. Save everyone (including yourself!) some time and just ask the question

right from the start. Culturally speaking, in open source projects it's generally ok

launch right in to a question on IRC; you don't even have to say hi first!</p>

</div>

What should I do if no one answers my question?</h2>

<ol>

<li><strong>Be patient.</strong> If you're on IRC, stick around for an hour or so (you can do

something else,

just leave the IRC window open and check back occasionally) and see if someone gets back

to you. If they don't, try posting to the mailing list (it's possible all the developers

are asleep!) If you're on a mailing list, you should give people around 24-48h to answer

before worrying too much about it.</li>

<li><strong>Make sure you're asking in the best place.</strong> One common mistake students

make is

to contact

individual developers rather than asking on a public mailing list or a public IRC channel.

You want as many people as possible to see your questions, so try not to be shy! (and

don't worry about looking too much like a newbie -- all of us were new once!) Sometimes

projects have different lists/irc channels/forums/bug queues for different types of

questions. If you're not sure, do feel free to follow up your question with something like

"hey, I haven't gotten an answer on this... is there somewhere better I could post it or

more information you need to help?"</li>

<li><strong>Try giving more information.</strong> If you've hit a bug, try to give the error

message and

information about your setup and information about what you've already tried. If you're

trying to find a bit of documentation, indicate where you've already looked. And again

"hey, I haven't got an answer... what other information could I provide to help debug this

problem?" is a reasonable follow-up if you're not sure what people might need.</li>

<li><strong>If you're really having trouble getting in touch with your mentors, talk to the

Python

org

admins by emailing gsoc-admins(at)python.org</strong> The Python org admins should have

contact

info for mentors with each project and can help connect you. (Note: please don't complain

that you can't get in touch with us on the general Google Summer of Code lists or #gsoc.

They're just

going to redirect you to Terri and the other python org admins anyhow!)

</li>

</ol>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head content-head-ribbon is-center">How many slots does python get? How many

slots does

project

$x get?</h2>

<p>We don't know our slot allocation until Google announces them, and Google bases their

numbers on the number of students we tell them we want. The more great applications we

have, the more slots we'll request. So rather than worrying about the number of slots, you

should be aiming to be such a memorable and great prospective student that your sub-org

will definitely request a slot with you in mind. </p>

<p>For sub-orgs, new groups working with us usually get 1-2 slots, experienced sub-orgs may

be granted as many as they can comfortably mentor at the discretion of the org admins.

(The max number will likely be close to the total number of mentors divided by two, but

the actual number requested depends on which students the org specifically wants to hire

after they've done an initial review of the applications.)</p>

<p>Google has been incredibly generous with letting us have slots in previous years, so we

are usually more limited by the matching of mentors with truly excellent students. We've

had as many as 70 or fewer than 20 depending on the quality of student applications.</p>

<p>If we get 100 applications and 50 of them

are excellent, we'll try to find enough mentors for 50 students. If only 5 of them are

excellent,

then we'll be sad but we'll only request 5 slots and most of our mentors would take the year

off.

Sometimes whole sub-orgs take the year off because they have no excellent students. (and yes,

if every single application we got was amazing we'd try to find a way to mentor all those

students.)</p>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head is-center">Where can I find information about previous years?</h2>

<a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode">SummerOfCode on the python wiki</a>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2005">SummerOfCode/2005</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2006">SummerOfCode/2006</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2007">SummerOfCode/2007</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2008">SummerOfCode/2008</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2009">SummerOfCode/2009</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2010">SummerOfCode/2010</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2011">SummerOfCode/2011</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2012">SummerOfCode/2012</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2013">SummerOfCode/2013</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2014">SummerOfCode/2014</a></li>

<li>ESA Summer of Code 2014: http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis/

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2015">SummerOfCode/2015</a></li>

<li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/2016">SummerOfCode/2016</a></li>

<li><a href="http://python-gsoc.org/2017">Python GSoC 2017</a></li>

<li><a href="http://python-gsoc.org/2018">Python GSoC 2018</a></li>

<li><a href="http://python-gsoc.org/2019">Python GSoC 2019</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2 class="content-head content-head-ribbon is-center">Why does Meflin always say no?</h2>

<p>He’s just like that! It's actually an incredibly important job: his job is to say no when

things aren’t ready, so we can go back and make things more awesome. It's also his job to

make sure that Terri's workload is reasonable, and that means saying NO pretty frequently.

All those no’s make it possible to run this program every year!

</p>

</div>

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