This is the Application Template for participation with WordPress for GSoC2010.
The following template shows how we want you to structure your application to participate in GSoC with WordPress. This is basically a job application, so please submit a clean, concise application that answers all the questions in the template.
If you need further explanation because you don't understand what we're asking for in any of these sections, please contact jane/wordpress/org by email for help, or drop into irc.freenode.net #wordpress-gsoc. We're looking forward to reading your application, so be creative and propose something awesome we can't live without!
Please include the following sections in your application. Strip out everything in italics and replace it with your own information! It's only there to give you instructions, and is not meant to be part of your application.
Name: Your_Name_Here
Email: name@domain.com
Personal Website: http://yourdomain.tld
Skype ID or GTalk: SkypeID or name@gmail.com (for IM and voice chats).
IRC nick: If you have been talking to people in the #wordpress-dev or #wordpress-gsoc channels on IRC, include your IRC nickname here so the mentors will recognize you.
Phone number: If all contact methods fail because you are in an internet-free zone at some point, we can try your phone. Enter your phone number (with country code) here.
School Name: The name of your university.
Years completed: What year will you have just finished when you start GSoC?
PHP Experience Level: Say beginner, intermediate or advanced. You will give more details in the experience section below.
WordPress Experience Level: Say no experience, current user, plugin/theme developer or core contributor. You will give more details in the experience section below.
Link to project description on WordPress-powered blog: Please document your proposal on a WordPress-powered blog first, and include a link to the post here in your application. Note: you still need to have the full description here in your application, we just want to see how you're using WordPress.
Describe your idea in detail: Whether you took the idea from our list of suggestions, from popular ideas submitted by members of the WordPress community, or it's something you've come up with on your own, propose your project here. Please be as detailed as possible, including the problem you want to solve, the scope of the project (be specific about features) and the coding approach you'll take.
What have you done so far with this idea: Include any work or research on this project you have already done. Sharing the project idea on the wp-hackers mailing list in advance of your application is a good idea; if you have done so, summarize the list response to your project idea/approach. Note: summarize the discussion here; do NOT just link to the wp-hackers archive.
Plugin, theme, or core: Tell us if the software you will be working on is meant to exist as a plugin/theme or to be included in the core of WordPress as a patch. We are committed to keeping core a non-frills experience, so it is important that a project for core is coordinated with our most experienced and dedicated developers. Many projects ultimately intended for core will be suggested to begin as a plugin for easier testing and assessment.
Anticipated challenges: Identify any challenges or risks there are to the project not being as successful as you hope or not being complete by the end of the GSoC term.
Potential mentors: If you have identified a person(s) to mentor you on this project, please name him here. If you have already been in communication with this person(s), please summarize your discussions so far (i.e., have you asked for feedback on the scope, have you already started talking about code approaches, are you already planning a mentor-mentee vacation together?). If you have not spoken with any mentors yet, but are interested in working with someone specific, say who and why. If you have no preference on who mentors you, just write, "No preference."
Milestones and deliverables schedule: What are the milestones and deliverables for your project? It should take the form of a list with dates and deliverables. A task and/or milestone for each week of the development period is a good idea, since it will help your mentor keep you on track to complete your project. For example:
* Month/Date - Revise project plan with mentor, set up development environment
* Month/Date - Determine how to structure plugin, begin coding
* Month/Date - Submit first draft code for review
etc. You get the idea. The more detailed you are, the more convinced we'll be that you've thought about this project realistically. If accepted, the first thing yo'll do will be to work with your mentor to define a very specific commitment regarding deliverables and schedule to determine eligibility for full student payment at the halfway mark and at the end of the program. This will help limit disappointment for both mentors and students.
Other commitments: Do you have any other commitments during this time that could impact your ability to be online, coding and/or communicating with your mentor? Include school, work and family commitments.
PHP Experience: We are a PHP program, so describe any/all experience you've had writing PHP. If you're applying for a project that is more focused on front-end/UI aspects, then we'd also like to know how familiar you are with JavaScript/jQuery. Links appreciated.
WordPress Experience: Preference will be given to students who have shown an interest in WordPress already by submitting patches to core or uploading plugin or themes to the wordpress.org repositories, because it will give us another means to evaluate student coding abilities. If you've not been active in the WordPress development community before now, please consider writing a patch for core or submitting a plugin to the Wordpress.org plugin repository before you apply or at the same time. It's not *required* but it's strongly recommended. In addition to describing your patches/plugins/themes, please link to the trac tickets or plugin/theme repo pages. If you have no WordPress coding experience, consider attempting a patch for one of the following issues as a supplement to your application:
Ticket #12760, Escaping shortcode conditionally
Ticket #12763, "Last edited by" not correct username
Ticket #11254, update_usermeta and delete_usermeta do not update or destroy cache
Other Open Source/Free Software Experience: If you have experience with open source development in any form, even a few bug reports or some tiny 2-line patch to something obscure, tell us! Also, link to it!
Work Experience: List any work experience you've had relevant to the proposed project, blogging, or software development. If you've bagged groceries, it's probably not relevant, but it shows that you can work in a collaborative environment, so a full resume isn't a bad idea! You can include paid jobs, internships, academic assistantships, etc. Identify for each job what your responsibilities were and how your success was measured (deadlines/deliverables, or just being there?).
Academic Institution: Identify your college/university by name, and give its location (city, state/province/etc, country).
Current Program: Identify your major, what degree type you are working on (BA, MS, PhD, etc), and what year you are (freshman, junior, 2nd year candidate, etc).
Anticipated Graduation: Give the year you expect to complete your program.
Academic Performance: List what you're studying in university/college that is relevant, how you're doing in your program, etc. Please be specific about which programming courses you've completed. An official transcript is not necessary, but cutting and pasting the course names and grades you've earned so far will help us understand your background better and tailor project scope accordingly.
GSoC for Credit: Are you planning to use your GSoC project as an independent study for college credit? For this question, write "Yes" or "No". If yes, please include the title of your independent study and the name and email address of the professor who would be your independent study advisor.
References: Please give the names and email addresses of up to 4 computer science professors (and/or relevant employers) who can vouch for your PHP experience.
You're applying to work with WordPres during GSoC because: Tell us why you chose to apply with us. Be as specific as possible.
After GSoC, you envision your involvement with WordPress will be: Over? Ongoing? Evolve into being a core contributor or committer? Tell us what you envision your participation with the WordPress development community will be like after GSoC2010 comes to an end?
Thanks for applying!
Largely borrowed from http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/SummerOfCode/ApplicationTemplate
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