RGSoC 2018's Applications are open

Posted on by Ana Sofia Pinho

Categories: blog and news

RGSoC 2018 Applications are open! (illustration by Rebecca Conrad and Ana Sofia Pinho)

RGSoC 2018 Applications are open! (illustration by Rebecca Conrad and gif by Ana Sofia Pinho)

Yes, RGSoC applications for 2018 are officially open! If you want to jumpstart your career as a software developer, or transition to a different language or framework, RGSoC is for you. From July 1st to September 30th, you’ll be working on an Open Source Project with the help of the project maintainer (referred to as mentor), coaches and supervisors. During this time and in order to help you focus on coding and learning, you’ll receive a full-time scholarship.

What follows is an overview of what you need to apply, but make sure you also read our guides carefully, as more detailed information can be found there!

Additional support for your application

In order to make this process easier for you, during the month of February we’ll be publishing videos and organizing twitter chats to explain a bit more about the application process and reply to your frequently asked questions.

We will be sharing all this information on social media, so we advise you to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

Who can apply?


We welcome all people with non-binary gender identities or who identify as women (transgender or cisgender).
RGSoC participants need to be available to work full-time for 3 months (from July 1st to September 30th). Additionally, this year we’ve introduced a few slots for part-time teams.

It’s really important for us that the participants have been learning to code continuously for one year and are involved in the community (through meetups, workshops or conferences). Participants should also be proficient in English so that they can be better accompanied by everyone in the team.

Find a teammate


In order for you to apply, you need to do so with another person — as a team. Your teammate should be living in the same location or area so that you can meet up every day to work. Please make sure that the person you are working with is a person you get along with, because you’ll be working together on a daily basis during the program.

Want to find a teammate, but don’t know where to start? Check this “Finding your team” guide.

Find coaches


Coaches are software developers that will work with you on a regular basis — 4 to 8 hours a week. Finding coaches, though sometimes difficult, is one of the most important tasks you’ll have in preparation for your application, as they’ll be your main support and will guide you throughout the program. You need to have a minimum of two and a maximum of four coaches. Coaches can be remote, however we strongly advise that you try to find local coaches before looking for remote coaches.

Additionally this year, project maintainers can add project coaches. These coaches will not count towards your “allocated” amount of coaches.

Tips on how to find coaches are in this guide; if you want to send information to a potential coach, you can direct them to our guide for coaches.

Find a coaching company / workspace


We recommend you find a good place to work with your team, and coaching companies can be a great asset for your RGSoC journey. In case you’re trying to reach out to a specific company, we have gathered the necessary information on — yes, you guessed it — our coaching company guide.

If you’re not able to find a coaching company, coworking spaces and universities can be a good option too.

Choose a project


Now that you’ve gathered your team, it’s time to pick a primary and a secondary project. The secondary project will count as backup in case your primary project is not available or chosen by another selected team.

Start by taking a look at our list of Open Source projects in our RGSoC teams app. Please talk with your coaches about which projects to choose, and consider the level of difficulty of the tasks you’ll be working on, how familiar you are with the project, and the knowledge you and your coaches have of the languages and frameworks used.

Apply


It’s time to apply! All the applications are processed through RGSoC’s Teams App and you need to login using GitHub. You can find more detailed information about filling out the form in our Application Guide.

We advise you to start filling the application form early on — it can be saved as a draft, so you can always come back to it later. Remember that the application process closes on February 28th at 17:00 UTC, so all applications received after that time won’t be considered.

We wish you the best of luck with your application!