[BioRuby] Gsoc:Asking for suggestion and view for Bioruby project

[Pjotr Prins]

Hi Varun,

On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 08:24:06AM +0530, varun vyas wrote:
> Hi,
>    This is Varun Vyas from DA-IICT,Gandhinagar,India, in last year of his
> B.tech. I want to ask about project titled "Adding social networking
> functionality to BioRuby.org".

You are welcome :)

> I would like to know who will be the mentor for this project, so as to
> contact him to discuss more about the same. If anyone can suggest me
> correct approach to this project i.e. point that must be included in
> proposal, any must prerequisites, What are the expectations for this
> project,who will take design decision,will design be provided  or  any
> design constraint for site.Any help or suggestion would be great.
> I am doing my intership in a start-up, where i created its website with
> Ruby-on-rails 3.2. Have intermediate knowledge of Ruby and
> Javascript(Jquery), learned as much was needed for completing my project
> will working on it.  Though i know only basics of Coffescript  and Haml,
> but can quickly learn and apply them if needed.

Programming experience is actually not really a requirement for GSoC.
The idea is to get people into OSS projects and make them long-term
contributors to OSS. If this project proposal appeals to you, please
do apply. One of BioRuby's little successes is Kharagpur based Anurag
Priyam, who came in with GSoC and is a very active OSS contributor,
see https://github.com/yeban (kudos to Anurag, sukria/donobad, I
wanted an excuse to mention that!).

Most of your questions will be answered by reading the GSoC
instructions

  http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code/wiki/AdviceforStudents

and the OBF pages. Our projects have *multiple* mentors, and the
BioRuby panel also monitors actively. If you frame your questions
right, you will get answers on the mailing list (ML) or IRC.

Another important point is that the application process of GSoC is
rather competitive. More students apply than get selected! The only
way to get in is to produce a good proposal. A good proposal shows
the motivation of the student. A mentor will help, once there is
something on the table. Don't expect mentors to put in time for
'free'.

Enjoy :)

Pj.