Google Summer of Code isn’t technically an internship program, but we guarantee that it offers a summer work experience that is as authentic and exciting as anything else that we’ve come across. Before we get to the details, it’s important that you understand what Google Summer of Code is, and what it is not. Google Summer of Code pairs college students with mentoring organizations to work on open source software development projects. These are not “internships,” and they’re not with Google - except for the few instances when a student is assigned to have Google as a mentoring organization. All work is done online, so there are no hours, no office space, and no travel. Summer of Code projects are intended to take up the whole summer, so signing on for another Summer internship or traveling the world is probably a bad idea; however, as long as you meet your milestones for project completion, you are free to do whatever you want with your summer.
If you have excellent software development skills and want to get paid for contributing to amazing open source software projects, it doesn’t get any better than this. You’ll be paired with top notch coders as mentors who will guide and evaluate your progress on your assigned project. There’s a huge list of participating organizations on the Google Summer of Code 2008 Home Page. A few projects that we’d love to see some of our talented readers work on include Wordpress (the software that we use to run this site), Webkit (the open source project that Safari, our favorite browser, is built on), or Adium (our favorite IM client). There are also companies that we’ve featured here or on One Day, One Job like Creative Commons, the Wikimedia Foundation, and One Laptop Per Child that are participating this year. During Google Summer of Code 2007, 800 students participated. Each received a $4,500 stipend and a good looking t-shirt. It appears that the compensation will be the same this year, and even more students will be accepted into the program.
The application process for Google Summer of Code is a little different from the application process for most internships. The first step of the process doesn’t even include students - it began on March 3rd when Google opened up applications to potential mentoring organizations and their open source projects. After Google selected the mentoring organizations, they opened applications to students on March 24th. The deadline is March 31st at 5:00 PM PDT. Last year they extended the deadline twice, but don’t expect that to happen again. To apply, students should refer to the Google Summer of Code Applicant Guide. The major requirement is that you must be a student at an accredited institution who is at least 18 years of age. (To our international student readers, you should know that “students on an F1 visa have participated in Google Summer of Code through CPT, but you will need to check with your university to see what will work best.” Speaking of which, if you’re an international student who is having trouble finding internships, take a look at our article on Job Search Tips for International Students.)
The basic gist of the application process is that you need to select a mentoring organization that you would like to work with, and then submit an idea for a project that you’d like to complete for the mentoring organization. There’s a list of project ideas on each organization’s page, so you can use those if you’re having trouble thinking of your own. Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team, also offers inspiration for project ideas on his blog. You can submit up to 20 applications, but only 1 will be selected. If you’re accepted, Google will pair you up with one of the mentoring organizations you applied to, and you’ll start getting acquainted with them and their software. Google does not intend for the focus of Summer of Code to be a recruiting program; however, “Google will use the results of the program to help identify potential recruits.”
At One Day, One Internship, we love open source software, and we hope some of you will become contributors through Google Summer of Code. We’ve included an obscene amount of links, because there is so much information available online about Google Summer of Code. There’s a lot more research that you can do! One of the more interesting things to look for might be blog posts by students who have participated in Google Summer of Code in the past. Happy coding!
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
What are your favorite open source projects?
Do I Know Anyone at Google Summer of Code? - Check LinkedIn | Check Facebook
Tags: Google, Internships, open source, software development
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