This post is about my starting point in GSoC 2021.

What GSoC is?

I want to refer to Google's official introduction to GSoC:

Google Summer of Code is a global program focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development. Students work with an open source organization on a 10 week programming project during their break from school.

You can see the text above here.

How do I know GSoC?

When I looked for something meaningful to do in the summer vacation, I came up with internship first. However, after some kind of searching, I found that internship in tech company is mostly prepared for the year 3 students.

There are some positions aiming at giving year 2 students a chance, but the number of positions is really limited.

Then, I am thinking about whether I can do some job for the open source projects. When I searched for "open source", "student" and "summer", GSoC came into my view.

Why do I apply for GNU Mailman?

When I was thinking about what to apply in the long project list, I thought about what kind of skill do I have. It turns out that I am more familiar with Python language, and I do have previous experience with Python Web programming. Filtered with these conditions, I found GNU Mailman project fits my current skill set.

Then by looking into the project idea page of GNU Mailman, I found the List Configuration Tool is a practical project, and it does not look difficult. Therefore, I think it might be a good starting point to contribute to an open source project.

What is the reason for being selected?

Well, before I received the application result from GSoC, I am not confident that I can be chosen. From the email written by my mentor, the following aspects might help one's proposal being selected:

  1. Choose the right project (e.g. a practical project, a project that fits your skill set)
  2. Write a clear proposal, especially for the plan part. The plan does not need to be finalized, and some changes can be made in the community bonding/coding phases. However, a detailed plan can show that you have thought about the whole project in some kind of detail.
  3. When writing the proposal, focus more on what to do instead of how to do. Implementation is important, but one project is not all about coding. Thinking about what to do is more important. Show the process on decision making in the proposal.
  4. Try to communicate with mentors/community, and try to help other participants if possible. Doing a project in a community is the key point of GSoC, so try to communicate more with others to show that you can work with others in the activity.
  5. Of course, do read the requirements from the community carefully, make sure you meet all the requirements (e.g. some projects need participants to submit some patches before they apply).

Conclusion

My journal of GSoC 2021 does start. I hope I can do a good job to produce a useable configuration tool for GNU Mailman this summer.