On Sun, Apr 01, 2007 at 02:58:09PM +0200, Maximilian Albert wrote:
A general question: Just in case I should really be accepted to work on this for SoC, to which extent is it 'legal' to work together with other people? May that be a problem with the regulations?
In fact, the GSoC program's purpose is to help students gain experience working with others on Open Source projects, so not only is it legal to work together with other people, but it's expected. In fact, the questionare that mentors fill out at the end of the year asks exactly this.
Culturally, our school systems make a point about students *not* working together, unless specially directed. So by default, as students we're trained to NOT work together.
But in open source projects (and also in the real world in general), much more is achieved by working together and collaborating than if we each did our own thing individually.
However, working together is challenging, especially when you haven't had much experience with it before. You have to learn how to discuss ideas and plans with others and find good solutions without getting into heated arguments, you must learn how to manage dependencies on other people (who may be unreliable), you must learn to step back when others can do it better, or step forward when you know the work must be done and you can do it. You learn how to become an effective member of a team, and how making your team successful makes you successful as well.
Sometimes the best way to be a good teammember is to look at what others on the team are passionate about, and just let them immerse themselves in that work, why you focus on areas they're less interested in. This can be tough since often you too are very interested in those exciting parts. :-)
Hope this helps, Bryce