“An Investment in KNOWLEDGE pays the best INTEREST."

Foreword

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global program focused on introducing students to open-source software development. Students work on a 3 month programming project with an open-source organization during their break from university.

As a part of Google Summer of Code, student participants are paired with a mentor from the participating organizations, gaining exposure to real-world software development and techniques. Students have the opportunity to spend the break between their school semesters earning a stipend while working in areas related to their interests.

In turn, the participating organizations are able to identify and bring in new developers who implement new features and hopefully continue to contribute to open source even after the program is over. Most importantly, more code is created and released for the use and benefit of all.

Introduction

I believe that Open source projects are a great way of developing quality products by working with other developers. I have always wanted to contribute to projects that I myself use to give back to the Community. Back in my school days, I remember using Wikipedia extensively for assignments and projects. While going through the GSoC organizations list, when I came across Wikimedia Foundation, I knew it was the organization I wanted to apply to.

For me, Google Summer of Code was an opportunity to meet the community, exchange ideas, learn new skills play a small role in the open-source community, and contribute to the organization that I love. I immediately started working on drafting my proposal as well as performing all the required micro-tasks to familiarize myself with the codebase.

Ad Astra Per Aspera

On May 21, 2022, I got an email with the subject line “GSoC 2022: Congratulations, your proposal with Wikimedia Foundation has been accepted!” 🎉 My joy knew no bounds. I was super excited to get started and was looking forward to a great summer! The project I will be working on is Edit Request Wizard. My Google Summer of Code Proposal can be found here.

Highlights

• Accepted Projects announced!

  

• Learned more about the community.

• Coordinated with my mentor and fixed meetings for the coming week.

• The week ended with the Wikimedia Welcome Party. It was great meeting and interacting with the community and fellow students. I also learned that I share similar interests with a few of them. ( How awesome is that? :v:)

  

Afterword

The organization has been very helpful and welcoming since the day I began my application process. Whenever I was stuck with something, I have always received the guidance I need however silly my questions might have been. I see myself continuing to contribute to Wikimedia Foundation as a Volunteer even after the program ends.