[IPython-dev] [IPython-User] Fwd: Google Summer of Code 2013

[Fernando Perez]

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Thomas Kluyver <takowl at gmail.com> wrote:
> In previous years I know we've not done GSoC, because mentoring takes up
> quite a bit of time itself. But maybe with the grant supporting several
> people working on IPython, we could reconsider that.

My take is actually the opposite: if anything, given our
responsibilities towards the Sloan grant, we shouldn't spread
ourselves any thinner right now.  Yes there's money there, but there's
also a ton of work to be done.

GSoC is really a *mentoring* program to teach others how to
participate in open source, that may by almost by accident produce
useful code.  Its real value is in the mentoring experience and in
therefore growing a community.  Unfortunately right now I think pretty
much all the core people who could have enough experience in our
project to be good mentors are already fully (if not over-) committed,
so I don't see how we could do a good job mentoring a student.

I say that as someone who in the past has been a mentor, and I felt
that a) I didn't do enough of  a good job as mentor because it
demanded more time than I really had; b) it didn't really serve the
IPython project all that much in the end.

Cheers,

f