In 2013, SciRuby was a mentoring organization for the Google Summer of Code. We asked our alumni:

1) How did you experience GSoC/SciRuby and what has it brought you?

2) What advice would you give new applicants?

Monica Dragan from Romania worked on gene validation, see also her blog. Actually, Monica was part of a different GSoC organisation, PhyloSoC, but also participated in our Ruby-centric meetings and code reviews. She shared her SciRuby GSoC experience:

Monica: During the GSoC period I developed a bioinformatics tool written in Ruby. First of all I learned a new programming language, as I had no experience with Ruby before. On this GSoC occasion I had the opportunity to get in touch with the community and I met people passionate about their work, with whom I continued the collaboration afterwards. But what I really gained from this experience is that I increased my enthusiasm about bioinformatics and I confirmed myself that this is the field I want to focus on in the next years.

Alberto Arrigoni from Italy worked on data mining and machine learning algorithms for Ruby and shared his GSoC experience:

Alberto: As a PhD student in the field of bioinformatics, my GSOC experience was very exciting and useful at different levels. On a training level, I had the unique chance to learn more in depth some topics of machine learning I had wanted to explore in the past, but never had quite the opportunity or the resources. On a more technical level, I appreciated the support of the GSOC mentors and the Sciruby community, which counts numerous experts and a very active mailing list.

Ankur Goel from India worked on statsample-timeseries for Ruby. Ankur shared,

Ankur: It was the best learning experience. I learnt quite a lot of statistics while working on my TimeSeries extension; after GSoC, I picked up Machine Learning course and I was able to relate it to very easily after working on regression techniques in GLM extension. I can’t thank enough for the opportunity provided and the trust endowed by my mentor on me. Learning to write quality code and getting reviews was a cherry on cake!

Will Strinz from Madison, USA, worked on RDF generators for Ruby for the semantic web:

Will: GSoC 2013 was a new experience for me in terms of managing my own time, planning my own project, and keeping up consistent interaction with my mentors across time zones. Despite a decent amount of prior experience with Ruby, it was also a challenge and an opportunity for me to really understand the tools and practices I knew, and learn to use the ones I wasn’t familiar with. As for what it’s brought me, aside from a job I secured partly through skills and project portfolio I gained during GSoC, and the power of knowing how to do just about any programming task using Ruby, I learned a lot about how to manage a project and interact with people in the real world. Communicating properly and in a timely manner over email and other asynchronous services is absolutely critical to the work I do now, and a lot harder than people make it out to be. Staying in touch with my mentors and making sure we were all on the same page about my project was something I spent a lot of time on, and in doing so I gained a lot of comfort with the process. Additionally, GSoC was my first true experience designing a large piece of software, where I couldn’t just give up and trash it when the code started getting messy or confusing. It really forced me to adopt good practices around testing and organization, especially since I had better programmers than myself looking over my work. Software architecture is something you just don’t learn in college level CS courses, and by the time I’d graduated, I’d started hearing a lot of my CS professors saying this too. Some day in the future, maybe soon, there will be classes taught about just this subject, but for now there’s no better way to learn about it than by working on a real project, with some accountability and motivation to actually get it done.

Our alumni give new GSoC applicants the following advice:

Monica: GSoC is a great experience that you should try as a student! What is cool about GSoC is that you work on the project you are keen on and manage your time as you wish. Also, working remotely involves additional challenges. In the end you improve your experience and get to know a lot of new and great people.

Alberto: I think one of the best features offered by the GSOC is the possibility to collaborate with (and learn from) people who share the same scientific interests and have very different backgrounds and skills. Though this may be somewhat ‘expected’ for mentors, I was also lucky to find other GSOC students willing to bond and share experiences and opinions. My advice is to be cooperative and try to learn as much as possible from/with them!

Ankur: Work really hard. Do your homework before you ask questions or before quoting anything in proposal. Writing a good proposal is necessary, and you must really be aware of what you are writing - a good research is necessary. SciRuby community members are readily available to help you at mailing list and #sciruby channel. A thorough discussion with the mentor will help you out.

Will: To new applicants this year I’d stress one thing above all else; get in touch with people on the sciruby mailing list. Introduce yourself as soon as possible, and start discussing your project ideas when you have something in mind. People on the mailing list are very friendly and helpful, so don’t be afraid to start a conversation, but also expect constructive criticism of your proposals. Answering any questions or concerns promptly and thoroughly not only shows that your know your stuff and are passionate about your project, it also shows that you are a good fit for GSoC in general. Don’t assume you’re in just because you’ve had a good dialogue, but plan and communicate as though you are; don’t wait for the project to start to fill in details or contact your prospective mentors personally. Once you’ve submitted a proposal, all of this goes double. The closer you get to the deadline, the less time there will be to polish your application and respond to questions, so make sure you’re doing it quickly and effectively.

Our SciRuby GSoC alumni added:

Monica: If I don’t join this year, I wish you good luck with the new students!

Ankur: I will be happy to sign up again as student, this year!

Will: I know I’ve said this already, but GSoC last year was a defining moment in my path to becoming a software developer, career-wise sure, but more importantly in the coder vs hacker vs computer scientist vs software developer sense. If there’s anything I can do to get involved this year, I’ll be available.