Re: Need Leadership

["Thomas H.P. Andersen" <phomes gmail com>]

On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org> wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-06-24 at 12:27 +0300, natan yellin wrote:
>> 1. Host an annual developer awards contest. Apple does it, and there's
>> really no reason why we shouldn't as well. The system would have to be
>> adapted a bit, but it _is_ doable. Like it or not, shiny prizes and
>> recognition help attract developers.
>>
> this sounds good to me, if the Foundation has money, we could have every
> year a contest for the "coolest GNOME project of the year". GSoC gets us
> new developers mainly because of the prizes, so it is a good idea I
> think to have something similar

I don't think money has to be involved at all. Recognition is all that
matters. I remember seeing a talk by Leslie Hawthorn where she said
that what the students in google's soc primarily cared about was the
t-shirt. The money was just a nice extra.

Wearing a soc t-shirt gets you recognition from your fellow hackers.
Having a "diploma" from google in your CV gets you recognition from a
future employer.

Could we do something like that? A t-shirt for mvp hacker(s) of the
year? Perhaps by vote from foundation members or the like? An official
looking pretty printed/printable "diploma" summarizing ones
contribution to gnome?

It might help bring in more contributors if we can convince e.g.
students that contributing is a good future career move. It's a nice
way of showing your skills, experience and also knowledge of tools
like vcs, bug-trackers, etc.

If people think it is a good idea I'd love to help get it set up.

- Thomas H.P. Andersen