Get ready for Google Summer of Code

Python project contributors and student enthusiasts, mark your calendars: Google Summer of Code applications open soon!

Google Summer of Code is an annual, global program pairing student developers with mentors in open source projects for paid summer internships.

You can learn more about this year's Google Summer of Code here.

Python projects

Python serves as an umbrella organization for around a dozen open source Python projects each year. Last year Python core, mailman, Pandas, PyGame, Pylons, PySide, PySoy, scikit-learn, statsmodels, Tryton, and Twisted participated.

If your Python project is interested in participating in Google Summer of Code under the Python umbrella, it's time to start preparing your applications:

1. Tell the Python Google Summer of Code coordinators that your project wants to participate! Follow the instructions on the Python wiki.
2. Review last year's projects and their idea pages.
3. Start outlining candidate student projects. Good student projects are detailed, can be broken down into step-by-step goals, and are realistic in scope and difficulty for a 3-month student intern.
4. Start gathering mentors. We recommend that each student have both a primary and backup mentor.

Important deadlines

• March 18: Mentoring organizations can begin submitting applications to Google.
• March 29: Mentoring organization application deadline.

Students

Google Summer of Code is a paid summer internship program for college/university students who will be 18 years of age or older on May 27, 2013. Participating in Google Summer of Code is a great way to develop real-world software engineering skills while giving back to an open source Python project you love.

Read more about eligibility in the FAQ.

If you are interested in participating in Google Summer of Code under the Python umbrella, it's time to start exploring potential projects and practicing the tools of open source development:

1. Read the Python Google Summer of Code guidelines.
2. Review last year's projects and their idea pages.
3. Start practicing the tools of open source development, including:
   
   • IRC
   • a revision control system like git or svn
   • the diff and patch utilities
   • bug trackers

If you've never used some of these tools before, don't worry! You have plenty of time to practice. A good resource for getting familiar with these tools is the OpenHatch training missions.

Important deadlines

• April 8: List of accepted mentoring organizations published on theGoogle Summer of Code 2013 site.
• April 9 - 21: Student applicants discuss application ideas with mentoring organizations.
• April 22: Student application period opens.
• May 3: Student application deadline.

Note that the best way to boost your chances of being accepted for Google Summer of Code is to start contributing to a project before you apply. If you have questions about how to get started or just want some friendly encouragement, visit the OpenHatch project and say hello.