[vlc-devel] Google Code In

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Hello devs and community,

As you've probably seen, VideoLAN is a participant to the first
Google Code In project.

This is NOT Summer of Code, nor a Winter of Code. This is different, and
that's why you should read this mail (I mean it...).


Google Code In is going to start very very soon, at Nov 22. And that is
the actual start, not the selection!

Google Code In is very much simpler to deal with than SoC, since there
is no selection and since students can work on different projects.

First, the students are younger: they are from 13 to 18. They are in
High-School/Lycée. Don't expect them to code a decoder...

Then, they are NOT only going to do code. Documentation, promotion and
other kinds of work are OK.

And Finally, the biggest difference is that there aren't big projects as
in SoC, but only tasks to fill.
A student claims one task, tries to do it and the mentor will ok/ko the task.
Then, he moves on the next task, that might be in a DIFFERENT organization!

One student can do 3 tasks at VideoLAN, 2 at GNOME and 7 in KDE. This is
perfectly fine.

The tasks are defined per level (simple, medium, hard) and have a length
associated.

What it means for us, is that it is easier to deal with, and easier to
mentor. Mentoring a task named 'cleaning the wiki', is way simpler than
the normal SoC projects.

We are now in the part where we create tasks, so please share them on
the wiki NOW: http://wiki.videolan.org/GCodeIn_Ideas

Oh, and we need mentors on Melange NOW! It is way easier than GSoC, so
please, don't hesitate to apply as a mentor, especially, if you ARE NOT
a developer.

Best Regards,

-- 
Jean-Baptiste Kempf
http://www.jbkempf.com/
+33 672 704 734