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digitalmars.D - GSoC Proposals: Level of Detail

reply dsimcha <dsimcha yahoo.com> writes:
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?
Apr 08 2011
next sibling parent reply Fawzi Mohamed <fawzi gmx.ch> writes:
On 8-apr-11, at 15:40, 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 don't have experience with GSoC either, but I fear that the very simple "I would like to work on X" proposal will have to be discarded. As andrei said the students have to convince us that they can do the project, and this means: - good project - knowledge of the field - knowledge of the tools (D) - skills - motivation Obviously projects don't have to be perfect, this is *before* doing it, but just saying "I would like to work on X" is not going to cut it. Fawzi
Apr 08 2011
parent Ishan Thilina <ishanthilina gmail.com> writes:
I don't have experience with GSoC either, but I fear that the very
simple "I would like to work on X" proposal will have to be discarded.
As andrei said the students have to convince us that they can do the
project, and this means:
- good project
- knowledge of the field
- knowledge of the tools (D)
- skills
- motivation
I was wondering, can a project report be too lengthy? O.o
Apr 08 2011
prev sibling parent reply Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail erdani.org> writes:
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
Apr 08 2011
next sibling parent Fawzi Mohamed <fawzi gmx.ch> writes:
On 8-apr-11, at 17:15, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:

 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
Excellent, I was thinking that an interview would be the best thing to evaluate the candidates. Fawzi
Apr 08 2011
prev sibling parent reply Luca Boasso <luke.boasso gmail.com> writes:
Who is going to interview the students?
Will the mentor interested in the student be the interviewer or a
selected group of the community?

Luca

On 4/8/11, Fawzi Mohamed <fawzi gmx.ch> wrote:
 On 8-apr-11, at 17:15, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:

 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
Excellent, I was thinking that an interview would be the best thing to evaluate the candidates. Fawzi
Apr 08 2011
parent reply Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail erdani.org> writes:
On 4/8/11 11:35 AM, Luca Boasso wrote:
 Who is going to interview the students?
 Will the mentor interested in the student be the interviewer or a
 selected group of the community?
I plan to interview qualified candidates personally. An interested mentor could choose to hold the interview in addition or instead of me. Andrei
Apr 08 2011
next sibling parent Luca Boasso <luke.boasso gmail.com> writes:
Thank you for the information

Luca

On 4/8/11, Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail erdani.org> wrote:
 On 4/8/11 11:35 AM, Luca Boasso wrote:
 Who is going to interview the students?
 Will the mentor interested in the student be the interviewer or a
 selected group of the community?
I plan to interview qualified candidates personally. An interested mentor could choose to hold the interview in addition or instead of me. Andrei
Apr 08 2011
prev sibling parent reply dsimcha <dsimcha yahoo.com> writes:
On 4/8/2011 2:43 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
 On 4/8/11 11:35 AM, Luca Boasso wrote:
 Who is going to interview the students?
 Will the mentor interested in the student be the interviewer or a
 selected group of the community?
I plan to interview qualified candidates personally. An interested mentor could choose to hold the interview in addition or instead of me. Andrei
Looks like we got a ton of proposals at the last minute, so we'll probably need to be selective. A few questions: 1. Are you still seriously going to interview every candidate personally? 2. What, if anything, is Google's role in deciding what proposals get accepted? 3. Is there any point in the mentors reviewing the proposals before we know what makes the interview cut? 4. Is each mentor supposed to review all of the proposals, or just the ones in his/her domain that he/she feels qualified to evaluate? For example, I feel very comfortable reviewing a proposal about garbage collection or containers, but I would have little clue what I was doing if I reviewed an XML proposal. I'd be able to tell a mediocre XML proposal from a terrible one, but not a great one from a mediocre one.
Apr 08 2011
parent reply Jens Mueller <jens.k.mueller gmx.de> writes:
dsimcha wrote:
 On 4/8/2011 2:43 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
On 4/8/11 11:35 AM, Luca Boasso wrote:
Who is going to interview the students?
Will the mentor interested in the student be the interviewer or a
selected group of the community?
I plan to interview qualified candidates personally. An interested mentor could choose to hold the interview in addition or instead of me. Andrei
Looks like we got a ton of proposals at the last minute, so we'll probably need to be selective. A few questions: 1. Are you still seriously going to interview every candidate personally? 2. What, if anything, is Google's role in deciding what proposals get accepted?
Google will only determine the number of slots. It's up to the project to allocate these to the students.
 3.  Is there any point in the mentors reviewing the proposals before
 we know what makes the interview cut?
 
 4.  Is each mentor supposed to review all of the proposals, or just
 the ones in his/her domain that he/she feels qualified to evaluate?
 For example, I feel very comfortable reviewing a proposal about
 garbage collection or containers, but I would have little clue what
 I was doing if I reviewed an XML proposal.  I'd be able to tell a
 mediocre XML proposal from a terrible one, but not a great one from
 a mediocre one.
I'll guess you are not expected to review a proposal you're not interested in. It make no sense. Jens
Apr 09 2011
parent reply Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail erdani.org> writes:
On 4/9/11 7:02 AM, Jens Mueller wrote:
 4.  Is each mentor supposed to review all of the proposals, or just
 the ones in his/her domain that he/she feels qualified to evaluate?
 For example, I feel very comfortable reviewing a proposal about
 garbage collection or containers, but I would have little clue what
 I was doing if I reviewed an XML proposal.  I'd be able to tell a
 mediocre XML proposal from a terrible one, but not a great one from
 a mediocre one.
I'll guess you are not expected to review a proposal you're not interested in. It make no sense.
An experienced mentor can assess the quality of a proposal that's outside his direct interest. Andrei
Apr 09 2011
parent dsimcha <dsimcha yahoo.com> writes:
On 4/9/2011 9:49 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
 On 4/9/11 7:02 AM, Jens Mueller wrote:
 4. Is each mentor supposed to review all of the proposals, or just
 the ones in his/her domain that he/she feels qualified to evaluate?
 For example, I feel very comfortable reviewing a proposal about
 garbage collection or containers, but I would have little clue what
 I was doing if I reviewed an XML proposal. I'd be able to tell a
 mediocre XML proposal from a terrible one, but not a great one from
 a mediocre one.
I'll guess you are not expected to review a proposal you're not interested in. It make no sense.
An experienced mentor can assess the quality of a proposal that's outside his direct interest. Andrei
Right. Ironically I realized that when I actually tried. I used XML as an example of something I know nothing about, but it's still painfully obvious whether a proposal is ridiculously vague or not.
Apr 09 2011