Since I've been asked... ;-)
On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 7:21 PM, Andre Klapper <aklapper(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
I organized GNOME's participation in Google
Code-In (and its predecessor
GHOP) three times in the past.
I've done it tree times for KDE now (together with other people). We
also applied again for this round.
== Stuff that takes time when preparing / taking part
==
What takes most of the time for admins is
1) before contest starts, nag developers and community members to become
mentors and to provide a large number of really well-defined and
well-documented tasks which are not too small and not too big, and
2) when the contest is running, make sure mentors respond quickly.
Students could come across as impatient due to Code-In's competition
system (students get points for tasks, you cannot claim a new task until
the old one has been reviewed and finished, and students with most
points get a trip to Google HQ. Last time organizations had to agree
that reviews must happen within 36 hours, also on weekends/holidays).
This nagging often took me about an hour per day, every day.
But maybe rules / ToS have changed again this year, don't know.
The rules were changed last year and that improved things quite a bit.
The same rules apply again this year. But yes it is a considerable
time-investment for the admin especially. And mentors need to be aware
that they are expected to be available also over the holidays if they
offer tasks.
== Aspects to consider whether to try or not ==
In 2012, GNOME did not apply for taking part.
The reasons that I see are:
1) translation tasks were not allowed anymore,
2) Google reduced the number of orgs to 10 so preparation work might
have not paid off in the end,
3) time spent mentoring students took often longer than if mentors did
the task themselves,
Correct. Like almost all mentoring ;-) Seriously though. It's a
time-investment that needs to pay off later.
4) tasks only take a few days (no creation of strong
binding to
mentor/org),
The change of the rules significantly improved this last year.
5) students often didn't stick with the org
afterwards but maybe were
more after t-shirt/money/Google invitation.
Most of course will not stay around. However this is not why KDE is
doing this. We're doing it to show the next generation that free
software can be really cool and that they can be a part of it no
matter their skillset. And then of course each year you have one or
two kids who really stand out and will stick around. Last year's
Code-in brought at least 4 kids in who are still around and do
impressive work. See
http://dot.kde.org/2013/07/15/akademy-2013-day-two for a report of two
of them (our winners) who got to come to Akademy, our annual meeting.
These kids are an inspiration and it rubs off on the rest of the
community.
So all in all it really depends on the mindset you go into this with.
Don't expect too much. Do expect to get a lot of small stuff done that
otherwise no-one gets to. Do expect to be really impressed by one or
two kids. Do be aware that it is a huge time-investment that some
people think is a waste. Be prepared that these are kids and that
their contributions will mostly reflect this barring a few awesome
exceptions. Don't do it just for your project but free software in
general. Don't do it if that is not important for you.
KDE is in the fantastic position to have a community that sees
mentoring as one of its most important tasks and it is a core part of
the mindset of the community. It'd be great if MediaWiki could one day
get to that place too.
Cheers
Lydia
--
Lydia Pintscher -
http://about.me/lydia.pintscher
Product Manager for Wikidata
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Obentrautstr. 72
10963 Berlin
www.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg
unter der Nummer 23855 Nz. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das
Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.