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OneLineWisdom
Shared GSoC Wisdom from GSoC participants
Introduction
On Friday, April 11, 2008 Marty Connor wrote the following message
Subject: One line wisdom Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:57:41 -0400 From: Marty Connor <mdc@etherboot.org> To: google-summer-of-code-mentors-list@googlegroups.com Fellow mentors and friends, If you had one suggestion for organizations who are new (or even not new) to GSoC what would that suggestion be? My first suggestion would be: "Mentoring fewer better students is usually better than mentoring more students because each student requires resources, and giving more resources to a smaller numbeer of better students tends to be healthier and more productive for both the project and the students." That would be my "One line wisdom" to share, what would yours be? Curiously, Marty
What follows is a compilation of the wisdom shared by GSoC Participants
Words of wisdom freely given in the hope that they might be helpful to another.
We would appreciate your thoughts. Please send them if you feel so moved.
One Line Wisdom
Marty Connor
For mentoring organizations:
Mentoring fewer better students is usually better than mentoring more students because each student requires resources, and giving more resources to a smaller numbeer of better students tends to be healthier and more productive for both the project and the students.
Christopher Sean Morrison
For mentors:
Make the students feel welcome, integrated, important, and appreciated by treating them feel like any other developer, through encouragement, taking sincere interest in their efforts, and frequent constructive communication.
There was a session at the mentor summit last year closely related to this idea that turned out to be a pretty interesting brainstorming session: http://googlesummerofcode.jot.com/EncouragingStudents
Peter Hosey
For mentors:
Communicate with your student frequently (about weekly).
Greg Noel
For mentors:
Communicate with your student frequently. (At least weekly, more often is better).
For mentoring organizations:
Set the bar high. If you want quality applications, require enough detail in the proposal that the student can't just parrot the idea page. A student who can't (or won't) do this isn't serious about working for you and you will only waste time on them that could better be spent on a student who wants to work for you.
For students:
Spend the time to write a good proposal. It's more than just filling out a form. A good proposal will require a lot of detail, so don't be surprised if the organization expects you to provide it. If you have the background and experience to do the job, most of the detail will be just a matter of pushing the words onto the page, so it's not nearly as bad as you would think."
For both:
Expect to iterate on the proposal. Communicate, revise, polish, and clarify."
Amy Stephen
For everyone:
Be available.
Michael Sparks
For mentors:
Give trust, but expect proof.
Expect communication - if needed, request & require it.
Communicate your faith in their abilities, it works when all else doesn't.
Give the benefit of doubt; don't be a sucker.
Don't be a single point of failure (for your student/in general).
Lead your student to your community; don't substitute for it.
No one is psychic - if you need something ask; ask if others need something.
Be open with everything, not just code.
Very few like to admit problems, seek them out, we all have them.
Provide processes that allow people to save face.
They're geeks too, deal with it :-)
Michael Schultheiss
Don't underestimate the amount of time it will take to mentor students - we've found a 1:1 mentor to student ratio (or a many:1 mentor to student ratio) is much better for both the mentor(s) and students.
Chris DiBona
Pay attention to even the most absurd threads on the mailing list.
(Like this one, I kind of rolled my eyes, but it's been good!)
Vivek Khurana
Be a mentor and not a PHB !!
Your Wisdom is Welcome Here
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for students: use a repository, do not wait for the code to be complete to commit and do not bombard your mentor with 5 MB tarballs.
Ars longa, vita brevis.