First things first!

• Read the GSoC FAQs and the student/contributor guide. Seriously, read them! If you do not read them, you will not know how to present yourself in a way that any project would accept you.
• See if you find a project that interests you on our Project Ideas page.
• Solve the coding challenge for your project. Submitting the code challenge does not suffice as an application.
• Important: Solving the coding challenge is actually the first step you need to take.
• Start with the coding challenge before asking questions about the results of the coding challenge (!). Many questions will be answered automatically during the process.
• Include your solution to the coding challenge in your proposal.
• Use the application template below to create your application and submit it on time. For general questions, writing to the official GSoC mailing lists is strongly preferred, as all students can benefit from your questions. For specific questions about a project, feel free to contact 52°North mentors directly.
• The 52°North licensing model requires you to sign a Contributor License Agreement in order to collect usage rights (you keep your copyright). This is not a disadvantage for you at all! It just ensures that your contributions can become part of long-term software development.

Getting Ready to Apply

In addition to the guidelines linked above (read them!), you can demonstrate your skills in general, your interest in a particular project idea, and your qualifications as a software developer by doing the following

• Check your eligibility by carefully reading the program rules.
• Check the timeline of the entire GSoC period and whether it fits your personal schedule.
• If you have questions about projects and project ideas, feel free to contact 52°North mentors directly with specific questions about a project.
• If the project is an extension of existing software, download and install the software and get familiar with it. If it is a web service, try to make yours publicly available. If not, send us screenshots of your local implementation. Ask a very specific question of a potential mentor – good developers have and appreciate an eye for detail. See if there are any open bugs you can fix or small features you can implement – contact the code manager for details.
• Send a link to your GitHub account.

These things are very important if you want to make a great impression.

Application Template

To give you the freedom to create a creative and compelling application, we only ask that you include the following in your application. You can also refer to the examples in the GSoC Student Guide (Ex1, Ex2) for some guidance. Please do not copy text verbatim from the Ideas page or from other people’s discussions about your project, but rewrite it in your own words. If you include significant text or code from another source in your application, it must be properly cited. Any papers or references you use or plan to use must also be cited. Include all of this in a “References” section at the bottom of your application.

Personal Details

• Full name
• Country
• Contact details (email, personal website, Skype, IRC nick, phone number, location/time zone)
• University/School name and degree
• Short bio
• Why are you interested in open source

Project

• Description: Include a link to the description on the Ideas page, or make it clear if this is your own proposal. In the latter case, include potential mentors.
• Preliminary schedule (milestones and deliverables, planned work hours, and potential other commitments)
• Note: Mentors will rely on you to create an initial schedule that will be revised as the project progresses. The purpose of the initial schedule is to demonstrate your ability to create a reasonable first draft and to prioritize tasks.
• If you want to impress the mentors: include a Scrum Backlog and a Sprint Plan.
• Motivation (This may or may not include answers to questions such as Why 52°North? Why this project? Why Open Source? Why are you qualified to do this project?)
• Relationship of the project to ongoing studies (if applicable)
• Code Challenge Report
• Do you consider this to be a serious commitment equivalent to a full-time paid job? (Note: The amount of time spent per week may vary.)
• Do you have any known time conflicts during the coding period?
• After GSoC, how do you envision your involvement with 52°North: Over? Ongoing? Evolving into a contributor or committer? Tell us how you envision your participation in the 52°North development community after this year’s GSoC?

Experience

• (Open Source) software development experience (including sample applications, GitHub references)
• Programming level
• Work experience
• Academic experience and achievements
• References (software projects, advisors, teachers, colleagues, former Google Summer of Code mentors)
• Describe previous projects you have worked on, including your own tasks if there were multiple committers!

A good proposal…

Review the following items with your proposal before submitting it, and submit it if you can answer “yes” to most of the questions.

• Is my project description longer and more detailed than the one on the Ideas page?
• Did I complete the programming challenge and describe my findings and results in the proposal? Did I use text formatting (links are hyperlinks, headings are bold) to make the text more readable?
• Did I use the correct names (e.g. “52°North”, not “52 North”, “the 52”, …) and pay attention to details?
• Did I include all the content suggested in the template, but still have my own style/partitioning to stand out?
• Does the proposal contain enough detail to show that I understand the task and have the necessary skills (or that I know where I lack them)?

If you need more information or have questions regarding the template, please contact our org admins Benedikt Gräler and/or Benjamin Proß.

Submit Application

You must submit your project proposal on the Google Summer of Code website. It is not sufficient to send an email to the mentors.