Google Summer of Code 2009 is open for applications. I think that GSoC, which is an annual event in which Google pays students 4,500 USD to work on an open source project of their choice, is a great project and dream of the day when one of my students takes on this challenge. I try my hardest by ensuring, so far as is possible, that only open source software is used in my courses: so my students have experience as users of LAMP, Drupal, WordPress, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Netbeans and even the Google Code hosting service. And every year, I pass on the announcement via Blackboard to all the students under my immediate care. Despite this exposure, no-one so far has thought that they had enough skills to move on to the next stage. Maybe this year will be different. After all, 4,500 USD is worth a lot more today than it was last year!
More (or less) original insights from an old blogger
