Open Stack

OpenStack Developers:

Now that you have a few days off (just kidding) to relax from the release of Bexar, I wanted to bring up a new topic for your consideration. The Google Summer of Code (http://code.google.com/soc/) will take applications from open source communities starting Feb 28 - March 11 to participate in the program. OpenStack would submit a list of projects for students to complete with a pre-determined mentor for each project to support the development effort. The project list is published by Google and any student wishing to participate with OpenStack would apply for a specific project. The mentors of each feature would select the student they wish to work with and notify Google. The student and mentor would then begin work on the feature with the expectation that the code can be written, tested, and submitted back to the community by the end of the Summer. The program is global and students and mentors may not necessarily ever meet. 

Google does pay the students $5,000 USD to participate and we would get $500 toward our OpenStack community. Mentors are not paid but are GREATLY appreciated in their efforts to support the students and community. All funds generated for the community would go directly to an OpenStack Developer event to cover costs. 

To join, we must have mentors in place who are willing to work with a student that we select in writing the code for a specific feature/portion of OpenStack. These mentors are required to put in more than just the occasional email so there is a commitment on the part of mentors to ensure the student is successful in writing the code and getting it submitted to the community. For more information about being a mentor, http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code/wiki/AdviceforMentors. 

I believe this Google program is an excellent idea and a great way for OpenStack to get some code written by incredibly smart people who will either end up working for one of the companies involved in the project or simply become an independent developer within OpenStack.  I have started the paperwork to submit in late February for OpenStack to participate but will not submit the application unless I have interest and confirmation from developers within OpenStack to be mentors. Even if we only ran 2 students this summer, I believe this would be a great way for OpenStack to reach out to a global community of developers interested in supporting open source software. 

Please let me know your thoughts if you would like to be a mentor. Thanks.


Stephen Spector - OpenStack Community Manager 
PHONE: Office: +1 (512) 539-1162 - Mobile: +1 (210) 415-0930
ONLINE INFO: stephen.spector at openstack.org \\ OpenStack Blog \\ @opnstk_com_mgr

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack/attachments/20110204/eddd902e/attachment.html>