One of the best experiences of my student life was to make it to this list:
https://wiki.gnome.org/Outreachy/2015/DecemberMarch#Accepted_Participants
(This is the list of accepted participants for the Outreachy program from December- March 2015.)
Around this time of the year, the applications have just opened for Outreachy's 2018-2019 program and I've been getting queries on how to apply and what to look for in the projects.
So, here are some quick tips and approaches you can have for the program.
PS: These are simply suggestions, go with your will and way eventually.
Before we begin with the tips, if you don't know what is Outreachy, please check out:
https://www.outreachy.org/
It is a wonderful platform to encourage those in minority representation in tech to get acquainted with open source world under the guidance of highly skilled mentors.
Open source is not just an "access specifier" for codebase, it brings along a whole different culture and attitude within the community programmers.
A culture which is inclusive and open. People you usually find here won't be snobs or the ones highly defensive of their own ideas and code, being very protective of the ideas they possess. There are no rivalries, no hidden intentions and no competition. Programmers here come together with a common motive of building on the source code they have, being open about discussions and suggestions, taking help from the community and giving it back to others in the community as the need comes.
It is one of the most liberal communities I have ever stumbled on. This is a must have life experience.
Whether via Outreachy, GSoC or just on your own, do explore this culture once.
Having said that, here are the answers to most asked questions while applying for Outreachy.
Q: What kind of project should I take up? Should I target on more than two projects?
This is highly dependent on your skill set and interests. The projects that are available are spread across different domains, some are simply frontend, plugins using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, jQuery, AngularJS, React etc, if you are someone who enjoys and understands these languages picking up projects from Mozilla etc would be great. Usually the codebase of frontend projects is not that huge, so if you are a beginner or someone who has no experience in handling huge codebases, I'd suggest you to go for it. Then there are projects highly dependent on distributed computing ,say Mesos, these require an insight into the language they are using and network programming, one should not dig deep into them if they lack interest and have no prior knowledge, as these end up consuming a lot of time and usually difficult to understand. Selection of your project can also be aligned with what is it that you want to learn or get your skills up in.
Given the time frame the program operates in, more than two projects is usually not feasible.
Understand what you're trying to do here: understand a codebase, solving bugs and contributing back to it. This is a very time consuming task and requires your time, dedicated focus and patience, in my opinion, two are already on higher side, and are enough.
Q: How should I go about contributing? Should I start by solving "newbie's" bugs?
Answer is a big NO. This is a very common mistake we are prone to do given the deadlines and rush. Before touching the codebase, build the app and "USE THE APP". Use the software, just like the end user, explore what all functionalities it has, what all it supports. Once you have played with app enough then trace your way back from feature to code. Go through the code. "Read" the code, comments, try to understand what it is trying to do. Now, you are ready to look for the bugs. Issues on Git repos are usually labelled. Pick the ones that suit you, take up newbie issues. Try to solve them, If you don't understand, ask for clarifications on the thread or catch up the community folks on IRC.
Q: Should I be in explicit contact with the mentor?
No need, people usually end up contacting mentors a lot telling them how much interested they are in the project. In my opinion an initial email is enough. Your interest should be reflected in terms of how active you are on the codebase and IRC. Ask questions, solve issues. If you have a good understanding of the codebase and have made enough contributions the mentor will recognize that.
Q: Are there any prerequisites?
If you are a student while taking part in Outreachy, it is preferable if you can take up the Outreachy project as your academic project. They have strict rules around the academic credits you can earn along with Outreachy, please get in touch with the required folks from Outreachy and get your issues clarified beforehand.
Q: What are the outcomes of this program?
Being Indians we are almost always concerned with this. (Pun intended)
Let me put it this way, outcomes include exposure to the world of open source, network of amazing folks, mentorship by highly skilled/renowned folks in the industry, and generous stipend of $5500
Links:
Outreachy : https://www.outreachy.org/
My Outreachy log blog: https://outreachypb.wordpress.com/
In case you have any queries or questions that I can answer, please feel free to comment or reach out to me, I'd be glad to help.
All the best!
Keep hacking!
Love & Cheers
https://wiki.gnome.org/Outreachy/2015/DecemberMarch#Accepted_Participants
(This is the list of accepted participants for the Outreachy program from December- March 2015.)
Around this time of the year, the applications have just opened for Outreachy's 2018-2019 program and I've been getting queries on how to apply and what to look for in the projects.
So, here are some quick tips and approaches you can have for the program.
PS: These are simply suggestions, go with your will and way eventually.
Before we begin with the tips, if you don't know what is Outreachy, please check out:
https://www.outreachy.org/
It is a wonderful platform to encourage those in minority representation in tech to get acquainted with open source world under the guidance of highly skilled mentors.
Open source is not just an "access specifier" for codebase, it brings along a whole different culture and attitude within the community programmers.
A culture which is inclusive and open. People you usually find here won't be snobs or the ones highly defensive of their own ideas and code, being very protective of the ideas they possess. There are no rivalries, no hidden intentions and no competition. Programmers here come together with a common motive of building on the source code they have, being open about discussions and suggestions, taking help from the community and giving it back to others in the community as the need comes.
It is one of the most liberal communities I have ever stumbled on. This is a must have life experience.
Whether via Outreachy, GSoC or just on your own, do explore this culture once.
Having said that, here are the answers to most asked questions while applying for Outreachy.
Q: What kind of project should I take up? Should I target on more than two projects?
This is highly dependent on your skill set and interests. The projects that are available are spread across different domains, some are simply frontend, plugins using JavaScript, HTML, CSS, jQuery, AngularJS, React etc, if you are someone who enjoys and understands these languages picking up projects from Mozilla etc would be great. Usually the codebase of frontend projects is not that huge, so if you are a beginner or someone who has no experience in handling huge codebases, I'd suggest you to go for it. Then there are projects highly dependent on distributed computing ,say Mesos, these require an insight into the language they are using and network programming, one should not dig deep into them if they lack interest and have no prior knowledge, as these end up consuming a lot of time and usually difficult to understand. Selection of your project can also be aligned with what is it that you want to learn or get your skills up in.
Given the time frame the program operates in, more than two projects is usually not feasible.
Understand what you're trying to do here: understand a codebase, solving bugs and contributing back to it. This is a very time consuming task and requires your time, dedicated focus and patience, in my opinion, two are already on higher side, and are enough.
Q: How should I go about contributing? Should I start by solving "newbie's" bugs?
Answer is a big NO. This is a very common mistake we are prone to do given the deadlines and rush. Before touching the codebase, build the app and "USE THE APP". Use the software, just like the end user, explore what all functionalities it has, what all it supports. Once you have played with app enough then trace your way back from feature to code. Go through the code. "Read" the code, comments, try to understand what it is trying to do. Now, you are ready to look for the bugs. Issues on Git repos are usually labelled. Pick the ones that suit you, take up newbie issues. Try to solve them, If you don't understand, ask for clarifications on the thread or catch up the community folks on IRC.
Q: Should I be in explicit contact with the mentor?
No need, people usually end up contacting mentors a lot telling them how much interested they are in the project. In my opinion an initial email is enough. Your interest should be reflected in terms of how active you are on the codebase and IRC. Ask questions, solve issues. If you have a good understanding of the codebase and have made enough contributions the mentor will recognize that.
Q: Are there any prerequisites?
If you are a student while taking part in Outreachy, it is preferable if you can take up the Outreachy project as your academic project. They have strict rules around the academic credits you can earn along with Outreachy, please get in touch with the required folks from Outreachy and get your issues clarified beforehand.
Q: What are the outcomes of this program?
Being Indians we are almost always concerned with this. (Pun intended)
Let me put it this way, outcomes include exposure to the world of open source, network of amazing folks, mentorship by highly skilled/renowned folks in the industry, and generous stipend of $5500
Links:Outreachy : https://www.outreachy.org/
My Outreachy log blog: https://outreachypb.wordpress.com/
In case you have any queries or questions that I can answer, please feel free to comment or reach out to me, I'd be glad to help.
All the best!
Keep hacking!
Love & Cheers
