[wp-hackers] Google Summer of Code 2008

[Lloyd Budd]

On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 3:42 PM, Ozh <ozh at planetozh.com> wrote:
> >  Now, back to the topic du jour. Who will be a mentor?
>
>  Besides some obvious WP code fluentness, what's to be expected from a
>  mentor exactly? Especially in terms of availability?

Great questions Ozh! It varies based on project and student, but at a
minimum you should have a few hrs to spend each week with much more
needed at busier times.

"While the answer to this question will vary widely depending on the
number of students a mentor works with, the difficulty of the
proposals and the skill level of the students, most mentors have let
us know that they underestimated the amount of time they would need to
invest in GSoC. Five hours per student per week is a reasonable
estimate.
http://code.google.com/soc/2008/faqs.html#0.1_mentor_time

"From last year's experience, that sounds about right if you take it as
an average. More time will be required during the start of the project
and during the evaluation phases (mid-term and near the end). Once
things are under way and the students know what they have to do, one
hour per day should be more than enough time.

"I'd suggest asking for status reports on a regular basis (e.g. per
week) to get some advance warning in case things go off track.
http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-discuss/browse_thread/thread/e32b87da8c49f704

"Lessons learned from past GSoCs:
- Mentoring always takes longer than you think it will
- You cannot over communicate
http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-discuss/browse_thread/thread/e32b87da8c49f704



Thank you,
Lloyd