Google Summer of Code/2023/Rules

Rules for Google Summer of Code with the Gentoo Foundation

Before you start

Gentoo has the following rules for the Google Summer of Code participants. You are required to read and agree to these rules before your project starts.

We will be happy to answer all your questions about them and provide any additional explanations you may need. Once your project starts, you will be assumed to be aware of these rules and to have fully understood them.

If you do not, or cannot, agree to any of these rules you cannot participate to Google Summer of Code with Gentoo.

Google requests feedback on your performance and behavior during your project.

We want to have a positive GSoC relationship with all students, but the rules must be respected too. We must report to Google if the rules are not followed. The consequence is usually incomplete or no payment at all from Google, depending on severity.

Rules

Be polite and respectful

You will agree to do your best to communicate correctly and respectfully with everybody involved in GSoC. That is, mentors, administrators, and other students. Likewise, you will accept that other participants may have a culture different from yours, and in the event of a miscommunication or misunderstanding, you must first talk to your mentor and/or administrator. Very few of us are native English speakers (the author of these lines is not, for example) but we all try hard to communicate in proper English.
Finally, you should remember that your mentors and administrators are volunteers, which means they are doing this on their own will, on their own personal time, and are not getting paid. We all have busy full-time jobs, and many of us have children or relatives to take care of.

Be reachable

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a full time activity. Except in very rare circumstances, which will need to be discussed with us in advance, we will not accept you participate to GSoC with us if you have another full-time activity. If you have exams during the course of your project, please discuss this with us. We can usually arrange for that.
Typically, you are required to work on GSoC at least 35 hours each week. We prefer you do not work on GSoC more than 40 hours per week and not more than 5 hours per day, as we believe a balanced lifestyle is essential. But this can be varied under new rules.
Before you start your project, you will provide us with a phone number and a physical address where we can reach you during your working hours. We will verify this phone number by calling you. If we fail to verify this phone number you cannot participate to GSoC with Gentoo.
During the project, if we cannot contact you (by either email, IRC or phone) for two consecutive working days, we will try our best to reach you by any means possible, including visiting the address you gave us, in order to make sure you are safe and healthy. In case that fails too, we will have no choice but consider you have given up on your project. The consequence is usually that you do not get complete or any payment at all from Google.
Always talk to us before a period when you know you will not be available, or after it in case it was not planned.

Interact with the community

You are required to be present in the #gentoo-soc (webchat) channel on the Libera IRC network at all times during your working hours. Communicate to us advance what your IRC nickname is.
Make sure you contact your mentors if you have problems or doubt, they are here to help you.

By experience we know that exchanging casually and regularly with mentors, administrators or fellow students is key to a successful Summer of Code.

Report your progress

Daily report

At the end of each work day, you are required by the Gentoo administrators to email your answers to the following three questions to your mentor.

What was my plan for today?
Did I achieve it? If not, what do I intend to do about it?
What is my plan for tomorrow?

This should take no more than two or three minutes at the end of your day. We insist that this must be done at the end of the work day and not the day after.

Weekly report

You are required by Google to provide weekly progress reports. You will email them to gentoo-soc@lists.gentoo.org mailing list. You are encouraged to blog about your progress on your project but this is not mandatory. Note, though, that we do take into account how well and how much you participate with the Gentoo community in general.
You are required to have a meeting with your mentor, or a substitute depending on availability, once a week. This meeting must occur in the #gentoo-soc (webchat) channel on the Libera.Chat IRC network, or in an overflow channel if necessary.
You are required to have fun, and lots of it, during your entire Summer of Code.