GSoC Proposals: Level of Detail

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 4/8/11 8:40 AM, dsimcha wrote:
> I've been looking over some of the GSoC proposals and I've noticed that
> most aren't very detailed. It seems most of the students have only a
> very rough idea of what they want to do and plan on filling in the
> details at the beginning of the project. I don't have experience with
> GSoC and I'm trying to understand whether this is a problem or is what's
> expected. How detailed are the proposals supposed to be?

I emailed all student proposing a project the following. After the email 
we got a lot of updates.


Andrei

============
Hello,


Apologies for the semi-automated email.

You should know that the deadline is only a few hours away - on the 8th 
April at 19:00 UTC. Be careful! That may mean a different time at your 
location. Refer to this link:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=4&day=8&year=2011&hour=19&min=0&sec=0&p1=0

You should expect an interview during the application review period. 
There is no need for special preparation. The interview consists of a 
few simple questions and a couple of coding exercises. You should have 
an Internet connection handy; the interview uses www.collabedit.com for 
writing code. Phone is fine, Skype is preferable.

Below are a few tips regarding last-minute polishing of your application.

* Make sure you send our way a detailed overview of the project you are 
embarking on. A good overview should clarify that you have a good 
understanding of the problem domain and that you are capable of carrying 
the task through.

* Please mention your fluency in the D programming language.

* Specify a plan for your project, with deadlines and deliverables. Make 
sure it is something that you can realistically commit to.

* Mention how much time you realistically expect to spend on the 
project. If you plan to take a vacation or otherwise be unavailable for 
some time, please specify.

* Needless to say, it is in your best interest to be honest.

* Mention in brief, if you can, alternative topics/projects you might be 
working on. We have had quite a few overlapping applications - there are 
five proposals for containers, for example. We wouldn't want to let you 
compete and then choose the best implementation, so we will allow only 
1-2 applications on containers. In case you are interested in 
containers, how comfortable are you with advanced containers - Bloom 
filters, tries, generalized suffix trees, skip lists...?

* At the same time, don't spread yourself too thin. A too broad 
application loses focus and enthusiasm for any one specific topic.

* Include anything that you believe is relevant to the project(s) of 
your choice: courses completed, grades, references, experience on 
similar projects. Feel free to paste your resume. Don't forget we start 
with knowing nothing about you.

* Above all, be honest about everything. This program is at Google's 
considerable expense, not to mention the time your mentors will invest. 
Above everything, the best outcome of this for you is establishing an 
excellent reputation with everybody involved.


Good luck!

Andrei