What is GSoC (Google Summer of Code)

For those who are new to the world of development or coding, the word GSoC may mean nothing to you, but for geek developers, its the ultimate achievement. So this post is written for those who don't know what GSoC, or Google Summer of Code, is. Now that "Google"'s in the picture, I've got your attention right?

What is GSoC

In short, it's a 3-months long journey where you code, learn, earn, and have fun. The best part of it is the learning part. Besides, who would pass on an opportunity where you're paid to learn?

In the words of Google, "Google Summer of Code is a global program focused on bringing more student developers into open source software development. Students work with an open source organization on a 3 month programming project during their break from school."

In plain English, it's a place where different mentoring organisations (like Python, R, C++, etc.) float different open source projects, which are open to all students. Here, student participants are paired with a mentor from the participating organizations. Together with your mentor, you will gain exposure to real-world software development and techniques.

It might sound like the whole event is just about coding related stuff, but believe me, there's a lot more to it than coding!!!

The projects that are floated by these organisations are very diversed. The topics they cover range from maths, science, engineering, bio-medical, commerce, nature, to finance and what not – if you can think of it, they probably have it.

I will keep this post short, but stay tuned for my next post on how to get selected for Google Summer of Code.

P.S. Some of you must be thinking who the heck is this guy giving us advice? Well, I have been selected to take part in the GSoC as a part of the R organisation for statistical computing. Pretty cool, isn't it?