SoC GCC podcast

When Leslie Hawthorn learned that I'm doing internship at Google, she made me and Ian Lance Taylor record a podcast about Summer of Code and GCC. Daniel Berlin, my mentor from the last summer, was also invited, but managed to escape.

The result is here.

Thanks to Leslie and Ian! And Danny too :) The SoC posts will resume now.

Summer of Code: Writing an Application

(Introduction and table of contents)

By now the preparations are done and it's time to write. Here is a list of assorted writing tips, in no particular order.

• Copying project description from proposed project list does not cut it.
• Choose a short but descriptive title, that will create enough interest to read the whole proposal.
• Whatever the idea, make sure to state it briefly and clearly (surprisingly, some people fail to do so [1]).
• List deliverables clearly and specifically, both optional and required, and designate them as such.
• Read dev docs, code, play with the code, try to actually implement something in order to help fill in technical details of your application.
• Some projects might require you to provide a specific schedule, even though you might have only a vague idea here (But how do you know that your project is going to take three months then?). Playing (see above) with the code should help there, and don't be afraid to change timeline later as needed. Make sure to communicate that!
  
• Do not leave template text in [1]. If you want to give credit to template author, do it clearly in your own words.
• Use the provided form for application as much as possible. Do not just include a link to external web page here. If 7500 symbols are not enough, shorten [1].
• Include brief references to support your claims - links to e-mail archives, specific chapters in the development documentation, etc.
  
• Should be obvious, but check your spelling and grammar.
  

The part of application that outlines your qualifications, including CV, deserves separate treatment. That's coming next.

Summer of Code: Planning to write an application

(Introduction and table of contents)

So, by now you have a rough idea what your project proposal will be about. Here are a few things to consider before you start writing. First, expect to commit significant time for it (I spent about a week full-time) and it's best to start early. Starting writing early means more iterations, more feedback that is more thorough – it's all good for you.

Does that seem like a lot of work? That's the whole point – in summer you are going to have even more work, after all [5]. Also that means that you should go for quality, not quantity: do not try to write three or more applications that are actually good. It might be possible, but it's very hard to pull off.

Before you start actual writing, it is helpful to look at previous accepted applications. Search for them with Google, or follow the links from [7].

Also it'd be very helpful if you arranged with somebody to review your application once it's written. Usual ways to seek help here involve talking to staff at your faculty, in the case they know you and have time to spare, or at any NGOs you are affiliated with or have friends at – usually they are very good at this sort of thing. The reviewers do not have to be familiar with your project area, and it even might be better if they weren't - an outsider's perspective can be very valuable.

Next: writing tips.

Summer of Code: Choosing an interesting project idea

(Introduction and table of contents)

First of all you have to choose an organization you want to work to with. I don't have much to say here. I guess you just have to go to the list of organizations and pick the one you like the most.

After that you have to choose a project idea to work on. For that, it's best to start early: you will have to do a lot of iterative communication, and the more iterations you will complete, the better your application will be.

Now what to look for in idea itself? First and foremost, ambitious ideas are good, especially if they are not in the proposed project list. Tell it to the project and it may even end up on that list [3]. That's a strong case for your application, and you haven't even started writing it yet. Second, original ideas, outside the current "hot" thing, show that you are an independent thinker. Furthermore, your idea should be not merely "nice", but something that the project genuinely needs.

At the same it's a good idea to start reading development docs and some code for the project. This will help to see if the idea is feasible - especially if it's not in the list of the suggested projects - and to get general feel about the project. Even more important is to contact project developers: ask for feedback for your project idea, find yourself a mentor, file a bug, submit a simple patch - get involved!

Finally, learn about organization specific things: see if there are particular requirements for applications in you organization. And do not be afraid to ask how one or another option would be evaluated and which route you should pursue. Organization might have a sound reason to prefer one perfectly good approach over another perfectly good one, so don't get burned just because both approaches seemed good to you.

Next: planning to write the application.

Summer of Code: The Big Picture

(Introduction and table of contents)

The idea of Summer of Code is simple. Students choose open source projects they would like to work on and write applications, the open source projects evaluate those applications, the selected students spend their summer working on what they wanted to and Google pays everybody. Everybody wins. The students get experience with application writing and open source development, attention and help with their projects, potentially useful contacts for the future and some money. Organizations get new developers - their lifeblood - and some money. Google gets opportunity to help FOSS developement (FOSS is used a lot in Google), positive publicity and some (very little) recruiting done for themselves.

Note that in the long list of the benefits for students (that means you), money is just one thing, even if it is the first thing you hear about in relation to the program. And in the long run, it's probably the least important benefit. Think of it as a necessary means for Google to win your time away from other potential summer employers. That's it. The really important benefits you get are the skills and contacts, these will serve you well into the future. Funnily, mentioning in your application that you are doing this just for money will surely fail it. And no, I'm not suggesting lying about it – if you do, your application will show it in thousand other ways, with the exactly the same end result. But more on application writing later.

What's more? If you ever wanted to join an OSS project but it seemed daunting and complicated, here is your chance, with added bonus that the project developers will be extra-nice to you. If you have never participated in a successful team OSS project, or any team software project for that matter, this will be a very interesting and useful experience. There is a major difference between coding an application alone and doing a project in a team. So you are going to learn a lot of exciting stuff about having to deal with other developers, how and when to communicate with them, what kind of support infrastructure every project needs and many other things. Again, what you learn is for lifetime.

This concludes the big-picture benefits of SoC for you. The other big-picture thing which you have to be aware of is the time planning. If you are accepted to SoC, do not plan any other full-time commitment for the summer. The project will expect you to commit about full-time worth of effort. This is a perfectly reasonable requirement, since three months of single developer time is not much in the software world. You will need all of this time to create something substantial. But don't get upset – the "working hours" are extremely flexible and you will be able to plan some time for holidays as well.

Next: on choosing an interesting project idea.

SoC Experience: Introduction

Hello world again. Just almost a year behind the schedule, this is the first post in series offering some advice for SoC participants, that, very hopefully, will be at least a bit useful to somebody.

SoC has changed my life, in a sense. In summer 2006, I applied to work on the GCC with this project. I was accepted and successfully completed my project, although at a significantly reduced scope. Then I got to travel a little bit, to see how Google is doing in London. And a year later, this has helped me to land an internship position half a world away at Google. And my work here involves continuing my old SoC project. What more could I ask for right now?

That's why I want to share some of the things I learned. While searching for advice a year ago, I have found many excellent resources on how to write an application (all of them linked to below), yet there are some things which I want to emphasize more. Most important of them is the need to communicate early and often – in general communication, soft skills, etc. is something that us engineers tend to dismiss and this is a big mistake.

So I am writing down advice based on my personal experience, with added advice from other sources that I can relate to. Of course, it is very subjective and in no way I can guarantee that it is correct and true in all (or any) situations. Also, parts of it will seem like a very common sense. That's because it is. But common sense tends to be forgotten or vary person to person, so I feel I should include "very obvious“ stuff as well.

Here is the table of contents for easier navigation. I will convert it to links as I add new material.

1. Introduction (this post)
2. Summer of Code: the big picture
   
3. Choosing an interesting project idea
4. Planning to write an application
5. Writing tips
6. CV and qualifications
7. Summer comes
8. Conclusion

Finally, if nothing else is useful, then at least this part will definitely be. This is a list of links to other SoC participation advice, written by much smarter people than me, with SoC mentors among them, whose advice matters much more directly than mine.

1. http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/archives/2006/05/how_not_to_apply_for_summer_of.html
2. http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-discuss/browse_thread/thread/4cccd94e0b9aefc9
3. http://alex.dojotoolkit.org/?p=604
4. http://summer.cs.pdx.edu/propose
5. http://shlang.com/writing/soc2005.html
6. http://venge.net/mtn-wiki/SummerOfCode2006
7. http://drupal.org/node/59037
8. http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code/wiki/AdviceforStudents
9. http://www.postgresql.org/developer/summerofcodeadvice.html
10. http://shlang.com/writing/soc2005.html

Good luck!
Next: The big picture of SoC