2025 will be the  21st consecutive year of Google Summer of Code and the 4th year in which it will accept anybody aged 18 years and over who is a newcomer to open source software. As usual, GSoC is looking to recruit between 20 and 30 new open source mentoring organisations this year.

According to Stephanie Taylor, GSoC's Program Manager, 2024, which was the program's 20th anniversary was a milestone year with 1,127 GSoC contributors completing their projects with 195 open source organizations. She is hoping to surpass these numbers in 2025 and is keen to recruit more mentoring organisations in the fields of Machine Learning and Security.

In case you've not been aware of it, Google Summer of Code is a global, online mentoring program focused on introducing new contributors to open source software development. GSoC contributors work on a 12+ week programming project with the guidance of mentors from their open source organization. 

According to the GSoC organisers:

Participants are immersed in a supportive environment where they spend 3+ months collaborating on real-world projects alongside experienced mentors. This deep dive into open source not only builds valuable coding skills, but cultivates a strong understanding of community dynamics and best practices, empowering them to become impactful contributors.

Contributors who pass evaluations held midway through and at the end of the program are recompensed by a stipend paid by Google.

Established in 2005 GSoC has an impressive track record as these statistics indicate:

It is a win-win scenario for participants on both sides of the equation. To date it has involved over 21,000 individuals who have benefited from the opportunity of honing their skills in coding or code documentation. Their efforts have benefited over 1000 Open Source Organizations to the tune of more than 46 million lines of code and of course many of the participants stay involved with the open source projects and continue to contribute.  

The application period for open source organizations is from January 27 to February 11. The main commitment is to provide mentors to provide guidance and feedback and also act as an ambassador to help GSoC contributors integrate into their project’s community. Some organizations choose to assign more than one mentor to each of their GSoC contributors and often many members of a community provide guidance to their project’s GSoC contributors without mentoring in an “official” capacity, much as they would answer anyone’s questions on the project’s mailing list or chat channel.

The period for contributor applications opens on March 24 and runs until April 8. So if you've always wanted to contribute to open source and never found your way in, it could be your opportunity even if  your student days are long gone or you never went to uni. 

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