What is Google Summer of Code?

Let’s get ready for GSoC 2021

Kalana Wijethunga
2 min readMar 1, 2021

This blog post contains the content of a guest session i did for IEEE CS Club of University of Moratuwa on “Introduction to Google Summer of Code”. The slide set can be found here at https://www.slideshare.net/KalanaWijethunga1/what-is-google-summer-of-code

I’ll share my proposal soon on a separate blog post

Artwork by IEEE CS Club of University of Moratuwa

Introduction

Google Summer of Code is a

  • Open Source Summer Internship Programme
  • Held from May to August
  • Happening for the 17th year

Students engage in a 10 week long programming project with an open source organization during their summer break.

16000+ students from 111+ countries have contributed 38Mn+ code to GSoC so far

How it Works

  • Organizations publish their projects — The list of selected projects will be announced by Google on March 10th
  • Students apply for projects — Students research about the projects and submit proposals
  • Students work on the project with the guidance from the selected organization — Selected students get a chance to work with the relevant organization team for 3 months to complete their projects

Why participate in GSoC

  • One time referral for a job at Google
  • Experience — 2 internships by the time you graduate
  • Recognition — Star feature in a resume
  • Huge boost in your professional network — International Connections
  • If all else does not interest you, Money — $3000 USD for a Sri Lankan student in 2020

Application Process

  • Choose an organization
  • Choose a project
  • Start contributing/ researching the project
  • Write a project proposal
  • Submit upto 3 proposals through GSoC website

Getting started with an organization

  • Visit the organization website
  • Research about their projects
  • Join their channels
  • Setup the project
  • Try to do small bug fixes
  • Talk to members of the organization

Choosing the right project

  • Find the GSoC projects of the organization for 2021
  • Identify projects falling in your area of interest
  • Explore the project idea
  • Check whether you have the requested skills
  • Talk to mentors
  • Start writing the project proposal

Tips

  • Consistency is the key
  • Don’t give up
  • Encourage each other
  • Be in constant touch with the team/mentors
  • Try to work in a familiar field
  • Have a good understanding of the project before starting to write the project proposal

Good Luck !!

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Kalana Wijethunga
Kalana Wijethunga

Written by Kalana Wijethunga

Software Engineer @WSO2 @CERN| GSoC Participant | @UOM Grad| Computer Science and Engineering

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