Mentors for Google Summer of Code (GSoC) are an integral part of the process and a huge factor in the success of contributors. The Julia Language is grateful for the continued support by our dedicated mentors, without which GSoC would not be possible. Find out more about being a GSoC Mentor.
There a few ways to become a GSoC mentor with the Julia Language:
Join an existing project as a co-mentor. Each project should have at least two mentors.
Propose a new GSoC project inspired by the existing projects. You can simply open a PR and add your project.
Mentors will be the main point of contact for contributors during all stages of the project life cycle. You can read more about the mentor expectations from Google on their website.
Mentors usually communicate with one another via a private #jsoc-mentors channel on the Julia Language's Slack.
Mentors are encouraged to watch this video to give them a better idea how to be a great GSoC mentor:
Mentors are encouraged to check out the official GSoC Timeline to make sure they are aware of what stage GSoC is currently in.
Before the application period opens up, mentors are expected to communicate with contributors and help them get started with the project. Depending on the amount of interest in the project, mentors may want to write up “Getting Started Guides” to avoid duplicating efforts.
During the application window, mentors are expected to communicate with prospective contributors and give feedback on project proposals.
After the applications have been submitted and the window closed, mentors are expected to review the proposals and select projects they think should be allocated a slot for GSoC. There is no pre-set limit for the number of projects a specific mentor can suggest be allocated a slot, but the JSoC admins may ask mentors to limit the number of projects they ask to have a slot for depending on the total number of applicants and other factors.
After all of the projects are evaluated by the respective mentors (usually via a Trello board), the JSoC Admins will send Google a minimum number of slots and a max number of slots. Historically, we are allocated less than our minimum number which means we have to make hard decisions around which proposals to move forward with. After Google tells us how many slots we are allocated, the JSoC Admins usually go through the proposals which were put forth by mentors to further evaluate them. The admins are looking at the proposals to determine the overall impact of the project on the Julia Community, how enthusiastic the mentor(s) are about the project, and more.
After that, the JSoC Admins allocate slots to fill up the spots given by Google. If there are more high quality applicants with enthusiastic mentors then slots, which is usually the case, the Julia Language may choose to fund certain projects directly with our own money, but following the same timeline and expectations as GSoC.
Find out more about how we base project selections: