How Long and How Much: What to Expect from Summer of Code Participants?

Silva, Jefferson De Oliveira; Wiese, Igor; Germán, Daniel M.; Steinmacher, Igor; Gerosa, Marco Aurélio

doi:10.1109/icsme.2017.81

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Together, these results suggest high retention rates. However, we interpret (and moderate) these results in light of our previous quantitative study [1], which revealed that only a fraction (≈16%) of the students kept contributing after a few months. In this sense, this research confirms the work of Roberts et al [21], who found in a longitudinal study that initial developers' motivations did not translated into increased retention.…”

Section: Contribution To Osssupporting

confidence: 79%

“…For readability concerns, we adopt the following convention to present the results in Table 2. Concepts are presented in True Type font (concept) (1). Categories are presented in italics (category) (1).…”

Section: Students' Motivations To Join Gsoc (Rq1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Summer of Code programs aim at promoting software development by students for a few months [1,2]. By participating in these programs, Open Source Software (OSS) projects expect to increase newcomers' retention and code contribution [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By participating in these programs, Open Source Software (OSS) projects expect to increase newcomers' retention and code contribution [2]. Examples of such programs include Google Summer of Code, 1 Rails Girls Summer of Code, 2 Julia Summer of Code, 3 and Outreachy. 4 Some Summer of Code programs are sponsored by well-known organizations, such as Facebook, Yahoo!, and Google [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Google summer of code: Student motivations and contributions

Silva

Wiese

Germán

et al. 2020

Journal of Systems and Software

Self Cite

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Several open source software (OSS) projects expect to foster newcomers' onboarding and to receive contributions by participating in engagement programs, like Summers of Code. However, there is little empirical evidence showing why students join such programs. In this paper, we study the well-established Google Summer of Code (GSoC), which is a 3-month OSS engagement program that offers stipends and mentors to students willing to contribute to OSS projects. We combined a survey (students and mentors) and interviews (students) to understand what motivates students to enter GSoC. Our results show that students enter GSoC for an enriching experience, not necessarily to become frequent contributors. Our data suggest that, while the stipends are an important motivator, the students participate for work experience and the ability to attach the name of the supporting organization to their resumés. We also discuss practical implications for students, mentors, OSS projects, and Summer of Code programs.

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Section: Contribution To Osssupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Students' Motivations To Join Gsoc (Rq1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Google summer of code: Student motivations and contributions

Silva

Wiese

Germán

et al. 2020

Journal of Systems and Software

Self Cite

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“…Silva et al [77] GSoC projects 19% of students participating in Google Summer of Code (GSoC), a 3-month program, only had code merged during this period, not before or after.…”

Section: Zhou Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Periphery: A Qualitative Survey of Episodic Volunteering in Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities

Barcomb

Kaufmann

Riehle

et al. 2020

IIEEE Trans. Software Eng.

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Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities are composed, in part, of volunteers, many of whom contribute infrequently. However, these infrequent volunteers contribute to the sustainability of FLOSS projects, and should ideally be encouraged to continue participating, even if they cannot be persuaded to contribute regularly. Infrequent contributions are part of a trend which has been widely observed in other sectors of volunteering, where it has been termed "episodic volunteering" (EV). Previous FLOSS research has focused on the Onion model, differentiating core and peripheral developers, with the latter considered as a homogeneous group. We argue this is too simplistic, given the size of the periphery group and the myriad of valuable activities they perform beyond coding. Our exploratory qualitative survey of 13 FLOSS communities investigated what episodic volunteering looks like in a FLOSS context. EV is widespread in FLOSS communities, although not specifically managed. We suggest several recommendations for managing EV based on a framework drawn from the volunteering literature. Also, episodic volunteers make a wide range of value-added contributions other than code, and they should neither be expected nor coerced into becoming habitual volunteers.

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