On 05/03/14 14:20, Martin Gainty wrote: > > > > >> From: [email protected] >> Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 22:12:20 -0600 >> Subject: Re: Google Summer of Code - Java opportunity, mentors needed >> To: [email protected] >> >>> When you call this GSOC, are you looking to sponsor a student within >>> the Apache Maven project? I don't think that this is viable. If you >>> have some other sponsoring organization and an intention to manage it >>> elsewhere, then I wish you luck but I have no standing to object. >> >> Benson, scroll back and read the original message, he stated... >> > MG>the assumption of a mentor is that someone somewhere will be tasked to > train this individual
Unfortunately, that is not a good assumption The best GSoC applicants are already involved in free software development, sometimes even doing paid work in an IT department that overlaps with their GSoC project In this case, the mentor is not training them, rather, the mentor's biggest responsibilities are: a) looking for such good candidates b) helping them set sensible goals that can be completed within 8-10 weeks c) reviewing their progress d) providing resources (e.g. access to build servers) > MG>and since this is a GSOC Project the assumption is the mentor position > will be uncompensated > MG>The other assumption is that the person being mentored is a student > MG>Because they have trained for free in the past anyone who is assumed to be > tagged with an additional responsibility of MG>training this > <PersonWhoNeedsToBeTrained> has a right to raise objections... > MG>Assuming the mentor will work for free uncompensated to train others is > not a safe assumption This whole "uncompensated" emphasis is very biased People distribute software "uncompensated". Linux is an example. You can go and use WhatsApp without paying them anything to send a message, their company was valued at $16 billion despite the fact they are "uncompensated" by their users. Typically, mentors are not getting cash paid by the hour, getting some kind of value in-kind: - the mentor has no time or budget to complete some optional piece of work on their own, like improving their tools, it wouldn't get done otherwise - the student is an extra tester for the project and related tools that are of interest to the mentor --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
