Highschoolers! Add Google to your CV!

Posted by Sigurd on 29 November 2007

Over the past three years Google has encouraged and paid over a thousand University-level programming students to contribute heavily to several of the key global open source software projects through the Google Summer of Code.

We were very grateful to be included in this program in 2007, as it led to the bulk of the new awesome features in SilverStripe v2.2,  our language-translation system, several extension modules (e.g. flickr, youtube, Google maps), and bolstered the global developer community around SilverStripe.

Over the past few months we have been working with Google and a couple of other open source projects on a similar program that lets high-school students also get a great taste of what it's like to be involved in a global, open-source software project.

We have come up with over 60 tasks for high school students to work on. They are deliberately kept fairly simple and most don't require you to be a geek genius to be a stand-out contributor! Examples:

• Design and build beautiful themes
• Code up a widget
• Translate SilverStripe into another language
• Improve our documentation
• Test the project and file bug reports
• Build a SilverStripe website for a non-profit
• Present SilverStripe to a group of people

Students get paid USD100 for every three successfully completed tasks. Tasks can be worked on right now, and must be completed by 4 Feb 2008. If you're deemed by us as the best contributor you'll get an all-expenses-paid trip to Google! Everyone involved will get a Google T-Shirt and fantastic real-world experience working on an open source project, which will be loads of fun and a real boost to your CV...

• See the SilverStripe GHOP Contest Website to get started
• The list of contest tasks to work on
• Read Google's Contest Rules and FAQ
• Ask on the forum, the GHOP mailing list, or online chat to get questions answered.
• Update: See the work done in the initial two weeks of the contest.