What We’ve Done

It is an incredible honor to be a part of the team that helped bring Google Summer of Code (GSoC) back into the Joomla community for 2012. This year, the Joomla community is certainly shaping up to be an exciting one. We’ve had Joomla 2.5, undoubtedly the most advanced and functional version of the CMS released early this year. On top of that, the community has been able to get their hands on yet-another top-notch OSM president who will continue to bring new energy, ideas, and direction to Joomla’s legal entity.

Joomla Approved for GSoC

On Friday, March 16th, around 2:00pm EST I got the email. Google had approved Joomla’s application. We were in. We waited about an hour to make sure it wasn’t a dream and to fill out our Google-Melange profile. Then, the social-media-sphere took over. Tweets, Skype messages, and Facebook comments all started to pile in congratulating us. The team, had they been able to, would’ve clinked glasses of champagne at the news. It was a big, exciting moment, and I’m honored, and proud to have been a part of it.

The Road Ahead

Now that we’re in, the real work is about to begin. Running the program is going to take a lot more effort, and that’s the road we face now. The work that students will be doing for the Joomla program won’t stop here. The mentoring they receive will travel with the student wherever they go. Future education, and future jobs - the student will get a lot from the program.

Get Involved

There are a few ways that the Joomla-sphere at large can contribute to the GSoC program this year:

  • Mentor a student: We are looking for high-quality developers who can commit to the summer schedule and mentor a student.
  • Consultant / Backup Mentor: Not every great developer has the time to commit to the time required by GSoC. But maybe you can review some code, advise a student “unofficially”, or fill in for a mentor who may be unavailable for a few days. If you can be a backup mentor please email gsoc[at]opensourcematters.org.
  • Offer a Gift: A great way to thank GSoC students for their contributions, to the tool that as a business you use to make money, is to offer some gifts. We want some t-shirts, extension subscriptions, books, or anything else you have that we can give away to a student. To offer a gift, please email gsoc[at]opensourcematters.org
  • Train students, run a Webinar: Most of our students are coming with little, to no, Joomla knowledge. We could use some help bringing them up to speed on “the Joomla way”. We would like some folks who can dedicate just a little bit of their time (2-3 hours max.) to holding some sort of WebEx / Skype / IRC chat to do some early coaching. Topics we are particularly interested in are:
    • Using Git
    • Joomla 101 (Installation, Managing Content, Modules, Plugins & Components)
    • Joomla CMS Coding Basics (Code Structure, MVC, Framework)
    • Joomla Platform Coding Basics (Code Structure, Platform Examples)
    If you’re interested in helping out with this training effort please email gsoc[at]opensourcematters.org. We will need to coordinate this effort to get it off the ground.

A Note for Students

If you are a student and interested in participating in Google Summer of Code, we invite you to please join us! You should immediately register on Google's Summer of Code site, and submit a proposal to the Joomla project based on one of the ideas on our idea page. The deadline is April 6th, so you'd better HURRY!

Thanks

The community has given unbelievable support to the GSoC efforts thus far. I am so honored, and so proud, to have been able to work with the folks who have given of their time already. I can’t wait to spend rest of the summer working with such fine folks! This team is amazing, and it’s an example of what makes Joomla great.