Re: Google Summer of Code Question

[Joe Shaw <joeshaw novell com>]

Hi,

On Mon, 2006-05-08 at 16:07 +0200, tor studentergaarden dk wrote:
> Dear John Shaw

It's Joe, actually. :)

> So, I'm asking you to quickly evaluate whether I should apply at all. I
> know I'm running late, but I would really like to participate in order to
> get some real life experience in coding in connection with a project I
> find instersting.

If your main interest is in obtaining some real life experience, my
suggestion would be to try to "dive in" to a project first in your spare
time, if you can.

The SoC is a little more rigorous than your typical open source
development, because students are expected to thoroughly design their
system, sketch out deliverables and a timeframe, and then meet those
deadlines or not get paid.  If I were a student I would find it to be
rather stressful, myself. :)

You may want to build your confidence first by working on a project "for
fun" if you have time this summer, and then participate in the SoC next
year.  Or maybe a SoC project would be exactly what you need to build
that confidence.  You're the only person who can make that decision.

> The project im considering is the "Searching against Lucene Directly"
> project. It involves c# which is where my interests currently lies

I don't know if I should be talking about already presented
applications, but I've already read one which plans to tackle this issue
and stands a pretty good chance of being accepted.  I don't mean to
discourage you from applying, but you might want to consider a different
project.  Almost all of the ones on our idea page are in C#.

Hope this helps,
Joe