Google Code-In and Sugar Labs
01 Dec 2014I recently found out about the wonderful program, Google Code-In. To give you a basic summary, this is an event where high-schoolers ages 13-17 can contribute to different Open Source/Non-Profit Organizations. Encouraged by my choice organization, Sugar Labs, I have created this first blog post to talk about it!
Motivation
I have found that events/opportunities for high-school students in the computer science field have been somewhat lacking. Most Hackathons require participants to be in at least college and the ones that don’t are few and far between. As well as this, I have always wanted to get involved in the Open Source community but I just couldn’t find a way to get started. This is why I was absolutely delighted when I found out about Google Code-In!
The Contest Itself
If it is before mid-January, I encourage you to participate here!
As stated earlier, this is an event for 13-17 year old high-schoolers to participate in different Open Source contribution activities sponsored/mentored by 12 different open organizations. These organizations range from KDE, to WikiMedia, and also my organization of choice, Sugar Labs (the full list of organizations can be found here). So basically, you complete different assigned tasks in a healthy competitive atmosphere (there are prizes/incentives).
Sugar Labs
I ended up choosing Sugar Labs for my organization for the following reasons:
- I am familiar with Python and HTML/JS.
- The product of Sugar Labs (the Learning Platform) looks very fun and interesting.
- I want to gain more experience with GNOME and GTK.
- I want to put myself out of my comfort zone without biting off more than I could chew.
- (Although this applies to all of the organizations) I want to gain experience working on a large open source project.
Sugar Labs Learning Platform Screenshot Creative Commons Sugar Labs
Overall, I am very excited to start completing tasks for this great organization.
What I Hope to Learn
As stated earlier, I wanted to work on a large open source project, and jump right into the community. I hope to learn how to adapt to the different workflows of the organizations, specifically Sugar Labs. I do want to go into computer science for a profession, so this seems like a perfect opportunity to soak in experience that might prove invaluable in the workplace.
As for my mentors, I would love to improve my programming skills through them. If I have a problem (as I often have) or I am just brain-dead, I will be sure to drop by the IRC channel for much needed help. I look forward to improving my team participation skills.
Anyways, I will be sure to post updates here over the duration of the event.
~Davis Robertson
Licensed Under Creative Commons BY 4.0.