Prepping for a Summer of Code!

The time to apply is here! Ubuntu has applied for GSOC 2016, but we need project ideas for prospective students, and mentors to mentor them.

What is GSOC?
GSOC stands for Google Summer of Code. The event brings together university students and open source organizations like Ubuntu. It happens over the course of the summer, and mentors mentor students on a one to one basis. Mentors give project ideas, and students select them, pairing up with the mentor to make the idea a reality.

I'll be a mentor!
Mentors need to be around to help a student from May - August. You'll be mentoring a student on the project you propose, so you'll need to be capable of completing the project. As the time commitment is long, it's helpful to have a friend who can pitch in if needed. We've put together all the information you need to know as a mentor on community.u.c, including links to some mentoring guides. This will help give you more details about what to expect.

I'm in. What do I need to do?
To make sure you ideas are included in our application, you need to have them on the Ideas wiki by February 19th, 2016. When you are ready, simply add your idea. It's that simple. Assuming we are accepted as an organization, students will read our ideas, and we'll have a period of time to finalize the details with interested students.

I have a question!
If you have questions about what all this mentoring might entail, feel free to reach out to myself or anyone on the community team. This is a great way to make some needed ideas a reality and grow the community at the same time!

Google Code In 2015: Complete!

Google Code In 2015 is now complete! Overall, we had a total of 215 students finish more than 500 tasks for ubuntu! The students made contributions to documentation, created wallpapers and other art, fixed Unity 7 issues, hacked on the core apps for the phone, performed tests, wrote automated and manual tests, and worked on tools like the qatracker. A big thank you to all of the students and mentors who helped out.

Here's our winners!

 * Daniyaal Rasheed
 * Matthew Allen

And our Finalists

 * Evan McIntire
 * Girish Rawat
 * Malena Vasquez Currie

The students amazed everyone, myself included, with the level and skill they displayed in there work. You all should be very proud. It was lovely to have you as part of the community, and I've been delighted to see some of your faces sticking around and still contributing! Thank you, and welcome to the community!