Contributing to open source software and earning some money at the same time? For a few months, that’s what life looks like for the over 1000 students who participate in Google Summer of Code each year. Developers of renowned FLOSS projects (from Apache to X.org) serve as mentors who help students to get their code merged.

As a mentor and program administrator for OpenStreetMap, Tobias Knerr has worked with GSoC students for several years. Based on these experiences, his talk will explain how GSoC really works, offer an insider’s perspective on what makes a good GSoC application, and give recommendations to make your project a success.

Also included: Several real-world examples of student projects from OpenStreetMap’s 10 years of GSoC participation. Ranging from 3D rendering to web development to digital cartography, they offer a glimpse at the software development ecosystem behind the “Wikipedia of maps”.