Is the GSoC mainly for people who are already into programming or very technical only or you can learn from scratch
On Thu, 06 Mar 2025, 20:17 Jeffrey Wang, <j...@mywikis.com> wrote: > As a former two-time GSoC mentor who has firsthand seen the life-changing > experience it gives to bright students, I only have this quote to offer: > > "An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." > —O. A. Battista, 1946 > > +1 on Abhishek's proposal. > > khush rehna, > Jeffrey > > On Thu, Mar 6, 2025 at 7:09 AM Abhishek Bhardwaj < > abhishek02bhardwaj...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi Deb, >> >> I believe there may have been a misunderstanding regarding Yaron’s >> suggestion. From what I understand, Yaron was specifically referring to >> candidates who are *eligible only for GSoC* and were interested in >> contributing to the Wikimedia Foundation through that program. >> >> You mentioned three official ways to contribute to Wikimedia in a paid >> capacity: >> >> 1. >> >> *Outreachy Internship* – The issue with Outreachy is its strict >> eligibility criteria, which focus on underrepresented groups in the tech >> industry. Many contributors do not fit into this category, making them >> ineligible to participate. >> 2. >> >> *Wikimedia Foundation Product & Technology Software Engineering >> Internship* – While this is a great initiative, it requires full-time >> commitment during academic terms, making it inaccessible for many students >> who would otherwise participate in GSoC. Additionally, the sheer volume of >> applications often leaves many candidates without feedback (I applied >> myself with a referral but never received a response—not complaining, just >> sharing my experience). In contrast, GSoC allows contributors to learn and >> grow, regardless of whether they ultimately receive an internship offer. >> 3. >> >> *GSoC* – This year, the Wikimedia Foundation is not participating in >> GSoC. This leaves a gap for students who are ineligible for both Outreachy >> and the Wikimedia internship, making it harder for them to engage in >> Wikimedia projects. >> >> What Yaron seemed to be suggesting (or at least what I understood) is >> that this gap could be filled by *allowing more technical projects to be >> funded through Wikimedia Rapid Grants *by hosting Wikimedia's own Summer >> of Contribution. Historically, Rapid Grants have been conservative when it >> comes to funding technical projects, mainly due to concerns about their >> long-term sustainability. However, I believe that many contributors who >> wanted to participate in GSoC this year would be interested in this >> opportunity. While I’m sure there are internal considerations I’m unaware >> of, it seems like a potential solution that could benefit many >> contributors—if given the necessary approval and support. >> >> Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this! >> >> Best, >> Abhishek >> >> On Wed, Mar 5, 2025 at 10:20 PM Deb Tankersley <dtankers...@wikimedia.org> >> wrote: >> >>> Hello Yaron, >>> >>> Thanks for the input and suggestions! >>> >>> For many years, the Wikimedia Foundation has been involved with several >>> externally hosted open source internship programs including Google Summer >>> of Code (GSoC), Outreachy, and more. We have also conducted a Wikimedia >>> Foundation Product & Technology (P&T) Software Engineering Internship >>> Program - it started in 2023 and the current 2025 cohort is in full swing >>> right now. Over the last three years, in the WMF P&T Internship Program, >>> we've sponsored 17 interns on their technical journey. >>> >>> In regards to this year's GSoC program, we have already contacted all >>> the prospective Wikimedia mentors that had signed up to see if they'd be >>> interested in moving their projects to the Outreachy >>> <https://www.outreachy.org/> internship program that officially kicks >>> off in June 2025. Unfortunately, Outreachy has already closed the >>> application period for interns but the mentors and project >>> <https://www.outreachy.org/communities/cfp/> application period is >>> still open until March 7th, 2025. Looking at this from a financial >>> standpoint, both GSoC and Outreachy pay their accepted interns a stipend >>> for their 3 months of work, but the Outreachy stipend actually pays more to >>> their interns - $7,000 - vs the $3,000 that GSoC pays. >>> >>> Outreachy runs two internship programs per year, June - August and >>> December - March. The second program for Outreachy 2025 will have sign ups >>> for mentors and interns starting sometime in the early fall. The next round >>> of the Wikimedia Product & Technology Internship program will kick off in >>> late 2025 with the expectation of the program running from February through >>> June 2026. >>> >>> If you have a specific project that doesn't fit into any of these >>> programs, please let us know and we'll see if we can solve it. >>> >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> >>> Deb >>> >>> -- >>> >>> deb tankersley (she/her) >>> >>> developer outreach program management >>> >>> Wikimedia Foundation >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Sun, Mar 2, 2025 at 8:47 PM Yaron Koren <yaro...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> Deb - thanks for explaining what happened. We all make mistakes (except >>>> for this Dennis guy, I suppose!), and it's at least good to know that >>>> Google have not suddenly changed their minds about the Wikimedia >>>> Foundation. >>>> >>>> However, perhaps something can be salvaged from this. There have been >>>> various organization-specific mentorship programs that have been directly >>>> inspired by the Google Summer of Code; here are some of them: >>>> >>>> https://mentorship.kde.org/sok/ >>>> https://www.x.org/wiki/XorgEVoC/ >>>> https://www.summerofbitcoin.org/ >>>> >>>> What about having a "Wikimedia Summer of Code" or some such this >>>> summer? It could more or less match what GSoC does, with the same >>>> timeframe(s), same country-specific stipends, etc. Like these other >>>> org-specific programs, it would piggyback on the GSoC concept, so that >>>> potential students will already know what to expect. >>>> >>>> Wikimedia has a big advantage over most other organizations that might >>>> wish to do similar things, in that it already has a funding mechanism that >>>> could be repurposed for this: the Rapid Grants program, whose $5,000 limit >>>> is larger than all but the largest possible GSoC stipends. So in a sense, >>>> nothing (as far as I know) would need to change officially: it would just >>>> be a matter of putting up a wiki page telling potential mentors that they >>>> need to apply via a Rapid Grant, as opposed to the GSoC website. (Of >>>> course, it would be good for anyone handling the Rapid Grant applications >>>> to know to expect a spate of technology-related ones!) >>>> >>>> There have already been some great Wikimedia project ideas this year, >>>> and (as with every year) there are students who are excited to specifically >>>> work on Wikipedia- and Wikimedia-related projects. It would be a shame to >>>> give up on these projects, and also potentially to lose momentum for >>>> upcoming years, if the funding potential is there. >>>> >>>> And yes, I'm aware of Outreachy, which as far as I know is still >>>> happening, but it doesn't allow most of the people who would potentially be >>>> applying for GSoC, so I don't see it as a real substitute. Others may, >>>> however. >>>> >>>> Any thoughts? >>>> >>>> -Yaron >>>> >>>> -- >>>> WikiWorks · MediaWiki Consulting · http://wikiworks.com >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Wikitech-l mailing list -- wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikitech-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >>>> >>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikitech-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikitech-l mailing list -- wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikitech-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >>> >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikitech-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikitech-l mailing list -- wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wikitech-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikitech-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > Wikitech-l mailing list -- wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wikitech-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikitech-l.lists.wikimedia.org/
_______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list -- wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe send an email to wikitech-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikitech-l.lists.wikimedia.org/
