Over the summer I’ve learned a lot participating in GSOC. Now that the program is over, I’m finally ready to start being a mentor.
Here are a couple of things that I learned:
1. Get involved early – provide unlimited feedback on proposals
Get on IRC as much as possible, especially early on. Get to know the students. Tell the students that email you to come on IRC. Start teaching them about the domain, about the product, about the technology stack. Treat every student like they are already in the program. Indeed, a student’s willingness to socialize can be an indicator of integration with the community.
Customize the proposal template – make it your own. Add what you need – UI Mockups, requirements, evaluation framework, project plan. Try doing all your requirements analysis with the students during the application phase. Have students send you their proposal a week early and use it as a tool to teach … tell them where more detail is needed.
It was surprising how many students just submitted a boiler plate application. I rejected these immediately. To be shortlisted the application had to include at least a paragraph about the specific project (even if it was regurgitated from the project description).
2. Set aside time every day for the project
Technology, time zones, language, school, and work schedules made status meetings difficult early in the summer.
At the midterm evaluation point, we started checking in daily on irc Monday-Saturday. During the 1/2 hour of daily check-in my student had complete access to me. It was a time that I could make the project the focus of my attention. I believe that this communicated to the student that people are interested in the project … that the work is important. When I made it a priority the student responded in the same way.
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Obviously, this is not everything I learned. I grew a great deal during my participation but some of it was personal growth. I feel far more prepared now to be a mentor than I was at the onset of the program. Perhaps I will be invited to participate again next year.
Very nice post… keep sharing!