This post is specifically who are interested to apply on next year.

📅 What to do from now until next year (Around Summer)?

Start Contributing: Aim for at least 2 open-source repos (e.g., Y-Combinator-backed like better-auth, or some thing that u currently learning like Dart, or religious open-source communities too we EOTC do have an open-source community I am sure there be the same for the rest too).
Doing that will not only help to gsoc but also to your resume and even if you want to apply for MS/PHD you can contribute to research based open-source project mostly on ML or some low-level stuff that would open the doors for you. Plus a friend actually got a full-time job just from his commits. no resume needed! 😂

Additionally use AI tools like DeepWiki or CodeWiki to understand massive codebases quickly, and get comfortable reading documentation.

Just clone some open-source repo and execute it locally: Not joking but this will cover the 30% of the effort if you are able to clone some repo and run it locally you are almost there for contribution. The more you think, the less you do. Just don't overthink about it just do it.

⏳ 5 Months Before Application

Find the Sweet Spot: Look for an organization on gsoc with fewer contributors but highly active maintainers. This might be the toughest one try to give it your time and find a really project that would interest you.

Get a PR Merged: Join their community channels and contribute. Getting at least one Pull Request merged is non-negotiable (missing this got me rejected last year!).

⏳ 2 Months Before Application

Find the Projects: Orgs will start posting their project ideas for the upcoming year. Check them out.

Network: Reach out to previous contributors/mentors and ask to see their accepted proposals for inspiration.

⏳ 1 Month Before Application

Hundreds of people will suddenly try to contribute now. Maintainers will be overwhelmed, so get your coding done before this month is necessary.

Focus on the Proposal: Dedicate this entire month to writing. Add visual architecture diagrams to make it easy for mentors to read

Get Reviewed: Have peers or past GSoC alumni critique your draft before submitting.

After that, you just pray and wait! Rejection is just part of the process, so try again if it happens.

I hope to see a massive flood of contributors coming from Ethiopia next year! Drop any questions in the comments and I’ll DM you if necessary.

#opensource@qalabit

Around 3 months ago I just lost a 15$/hr job just by not having a portfolio.
The recruiter was non-technical person (business bg) and she was asking to send her a portfolio of mine. But my previous portfolio only have web related projects.
I could have literally built it in a few hrs but my laziness. What I have done was I sent my previous weird portfolio and a doc file having my latest projects.
Then I got Rejection 😭.

Now after 2 years I have refactored my portfolio website (thanks to llms only took me 4hrs). Could someone roast it? Please
Honestly I amn't good at UI/UX and I have multiple llms that I should give credit 😂 for.

But the point is your roast.

Honestly I will immediately refactor it.

https://nama21yo.github.io/natnael-work/

#portfolio@qalabit

Today I had a meeting with a senior Google developer who has worked there for more than 20 years, both as a permanent employee and freelancer. It was such an amazing experience, and I got a lot of valuable insights from him.

Here are some life principles and lessons I learned:

1. Stay fit and take care of your health. At the end of the day, health matters the most.

2. Focus on building real skills first. Don’t just follow whatever trend the world is chasing. Work on something you truly enjoy, something you can spend hours on like it’s a game. Read books, especially research papers. If you are a junior developer, learn the fundamentals deeply. Use AI wisely to understand things from the ground level.

3. Communication skills are just as important as technical skills. Learn how to explain and present your knowledge. These days, your online presence matters a lot more than just a resume. Build visibility through platforms like GitHub and by sharing your work online.

Also, attend workshops and meetups. But don’t just attend. make sure you connect with at least one person and keep in touch with them.

4. Have a spiritual life. Whether you are religious or not, always try to be good to others. You never know when your kindness will come back to help you.

Another important point was this:
Build projects that solve your own problems or local problems around you. It’s easier to understand problems you personally face. Then think about how those solutions can scale internationally.

And about AI:
Use AI as a mentor, not as something to completely depend on. Learn the basics well and use AI to simplify your learning and productivity.

Finally, being a good developer means being a lifelong learner. Technology changes fast, and you must keep updating yourself. He started learning during the COBOL and FORTRAN era, and he still adapts to modern technologies today. So keep learning, keep building, and prepare yourself for the international market.

Visibility matters. Real projects matter. Continuous learning matters.

@byte_philosopher

Honestly this week paper I was thinking about 7 Approaches on How to use AI (what a coincidence).

The paper was released in 2023 back then when gpt-4 is only for Pro users 😂.
I am mentioning it b/c currently most of us(including me) the way how we approach AI so insane. Some of us completely fear it and go with old ways with google search. Some of us use it so intensively. Balancing (in general that is the toughest thing in life balancing spiritual life and so on) is needed.

So the paper mentions 7 approaches on how to use AI.

I will only explain about AI as mentor and for the rest I recommend to check out the paper.

How to use AI as Mentor?

Theory: People learn best when they make mistakes and immediately receive tailored feedback. (this is actually experimental study been done)

How? Change the way how u prompt.
For the entire flow check Page 10.
And this method is also called Socratic Tutor.

Summary:
One of the recommended LLM-powered learning techniques is to ask the chatbot to be your Socratic tutor. Give the LLM the necessary context for example about your database or some dsa problem, but do not ask for a complete solution right away.

Example Prompt:

Act as an expert mentor and database analyst. Ask me a series of questions in such a way that by answering these questions I will come up with a solution myself. Do not be overly supportive by revealing the pieces of the solution
too early on, but if you find me to be on the wrong track, provide some hints on SQL keywords or database functions that could help me achieve the goal, giving away as little information as possible at first.

Are u using AI like that?

- I wish I am using it like that but no currently I am so much into vibing. But at least for learning purpose I will try to be as minimal as possible. This is also sth that I should work on it too

[Paper Link]

#papers@qalabit

Just trying Zed Ohh It is actually cool and much faster than vs specifically recommended for those using cli as coding agents.

#explore@qalabit