Hi all,
I have just gotten back from attending the Google Summer of Code (GSoc) mentor's meeting at Google's headquarters. It was quite interesting to here about other groups experiences with the program. My major conclusion from attending the conference is that Inkscape is not taking full advantage of the GSoC program.
Almost everybody at the conference knew about and used Inkscape. This is in contrast to many of the other groups that I had never heard of. Given our popularity, our group of core developers seems very small. I thinks that this is perhaps why we are under-performing in GSoC; we just don't have the people to do a good job of preparing for the program.
Here are some things I picked up:
* Recruitment:
We should be starting now! Most successful students have already had some significant experience with the software they will work on. Our two-patch rule is a good step in this direction but is probably not enough.
* Application:
We should have an application form with questions that test passion and competence. Here are some sample questions from other groups:
- What computer do you use? - What editor do you use? - What code have you written? - Do you use IRC, mailing lists? - Do you have a mentor in mind? Have you contacted them? - Provide a time line for your work. - How well do you know Inkscape? Include a drawing you have made. - What vacations/exams will overlap with the GSOC period?
Indirect questions work best. The "Why do you want to work for us?" questions aren't very useful. The application should test the ability to read and follow instructions.
* Coding period:
Require frequent and public discussions. Public discussions work best as then there are multiple people who can answer questions. Some groups have two mentors for each project. This is especially helpful when time-zone issues make communication difficult.
Require frequent commits. It is important to gauge a student's progress as well as insure the quality of the code. A number of projects use websites that allow easy commenting on the code by reviewers:
http://codereview.stackexchange.com/ github has code review built in
Weekly status reports.
Merge code for final pass.
Be tough!!
* Links to a few other projects:
https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/community/gsoc/student_application_form.ht... https://drupal.org/node/59037 http://www.di.ens.fr/~baghdadi/TXT_blog/5_advices_to_get_your_proposal_accep...
Tav