A Short Guide for the Aspiring GSoC Participant!

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Hey there future GSoC-er!

Your friendly Julia Language GSoC co-admin, @TheCedarPrince, here! It is that fun time of year again where I see tons of aspiring GSoC-ers asking questions about how to get started within Julia as well as where they can start looking for project/contribution areas!

If you are an aspiring Julia GSoC-er, this guide is for you! I put this guide together initially alongside an LLM but then have tailored it to be a compact guide for questions you may have. If you have any questions, please let me know and we can update this guide!

With that said, read on!

Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started with Julia GSoC
  2. Where Is the Julia Community?
  3. Resources
  4. Community Guidelines

Getting Started with Julia GSoC

Step 1: Choose a Project

  • Browse the project ideas list: Projects
  • Review open issues in your package or project area of interest
  • Identify projects that match your skills and interests

Step 2: Connect with the Community

  • Join the Julia community on Discourse, Slack, or Zulip
  • Introduce yourself in the #jsoc Slack channel
  • Ask questions about your chosen project
  • Contact potential mentors to discuss project ideas

Step 3: Start Contributing

  • Review existing issues related to your project area
  • Make small contributions to Julia or relevant packages
  • Build a portfolio demonstrating your commitment and ability

Where Is the Julia Community?

Slack (The Julia Language Slack)

  • Potential GSoC-ers are strongly encouraged to join here!
  • Join the #jsoc channel to meet other contributors and mentors!

Discourse (https://discourse.julialang.org)

  • Best place for technical or long-form questions you want to be permanent or preserved for the future

Zulip (https://julialang.zulipchat.com)

  • Unlimited message history and better mark-up support!

Resources

Installation

The recommended installation method is using juliaup, which installs and maintains the latest stable Julia version.

Learning Julia

Community Guidelines

Standards and Culture

All participants must respect the Julia Community Standards. The community is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse culture.

Policy on Generative AI (LLMs)

We adhere to the Julia Contributing guide and Community Stewards policies regarding Generative AI use within the Julia Community:

If your pull request contains substantial contributions from a generative AI tool, please disclose so with details, and review all changes before opening.

Success Factors

  • Competition: GSoC is extremely competitive for Julia
  • Prior contributions: Significantly improve acceptance chances
  • Early mentor contact: Essential before applying
  • Start early: Successful applicants often have contributions and prototypes before application
  • Demonstrate ability: Must show Julia and general programming proficiency by program start
  • Community engagement: Active participation is valued and expected

Thanks everyone and if you have any questions, I encourage you to post below so we can make this a strong community resource!

Cheers and happy preparing for GSoC!

~ tcp :deciduous_tree:

P.S. Mentors, if you would like to add any suggestions or thoughts, please also share your perspectives! :smiley:

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