It's the right time: Know how to start preparing for GSoC 2022

"This is to certify that you have completed Google Summer of Code 2022 contributing to the open-source project of the organization. Here is your certificate and stipend!"
Every student dreams of accomplishing this at least once during their engineering.
Let's discuss what are the minimum skills needed if you want to contribute to GSoC?

Basically, what is GSoC?
GSoC (Google Summer of Code) is an event conducted by Google every year. It is being conducted from 17 years. In this events many organizations participate and upload their idea list. The idea list consists of the projects which you can build for them or contribute to some existing projects.

What do I get from this event?
-> Your resume shines when you mention GSoC contribution
-> You get an experience of how the real-world projects work
-> You will get an in-depth knowledge of the areas your interest lies in
-> You come to know about the weak areas you have to work on
-> You get an awesome stipend!
Once you get these things, there is no going back. You will be addicted to self-growth and community help!

What are the top 3 languages to learn for GSoC 2022?
1. Python
-> You can contribute to the latest AI/ML projects that are used by millions of users daily.
-> Go to previous year idea list to know about the trending topics
-> Start learning python from YouTube (it has many channels that have excellent content but are not famous channels)
2. JavaScript
-> JavaScript has a lot of scope. Day by day the projects coded in javascript are increasing.
-> By learning JS you get the knowledge of both backend and frontend
-> MERN tech stack is what you need to focus on, most of GSoC projects use that
3. Java
-> By learning java, you get double benefit. You could clear coding rounds during placements and also you could get into the android application development.
-> There are many online resources to learn java
-> Get started today!

Which projects should I choose?

  1. Go through the previous year organizations, choose those who have appeared in the list during last 2 years
  2. Check the idea list of the organization, see the ideas that were not implemented during previous GSoC. There is a high chance that this might be implemented in this year, you could get ready for it in advance!
  3. After you pick a project, quickly go through it and learn the tech stack used in it. Find more projects that use the same tech stack. Try contributing in it. It sharpens your skills in that tech stack!

Few early years of sacrifice leads to more later years of comfort