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CAT ALLMAN: Hi, I'm Cat Allman with Google's Open Source
Programs office.
I'm here today with my colleague, Stephanie Taylor.
Stephanie manages Google Code-in.
Its our contest for younger open source developers.
Stephanie, tell us about Google Code-in.
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: Well, Google Code-in is a contest that's
held entirely online, that's global, that is geared towards
13- to 17-year-old pre-university students--
so generally high school students--
that are interested in learning more about open
source software development.
We choose 10 open source projects that will act as
mentoring organizations, that create a list of tasks in a
variety of different categories for the students
work on during a seven week contest.
And this year the contest begins on November 18, 2013
and goes until January 6, 2014.
CAT ALLMAN: Fantastic.
Google Code-in, does this is mean it's only coding?
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: No.
With open source software projects, there are a variety
of different skill sets needed to make an open
source project thrive.
So we try to reflect that in the Google Code-in contest.
So we have coding tasks, of course, but there are also
documentation tasks, training, UI, and a few other different
categories that students can choose from.
CAT ALLMAN: Great.
What kinds of open source projects participate as
mentoring organizations?
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: Well, on November 1 is when we're going
to actually announce the 10 open source projects that will
be acting as the mentoring organizations for 2013.
But, generally in the past, we've had disaster relief
software projects, we've had graphical desktops, we've had
gaming projects, and a variety of operating systems.
CAT ALLMAN: So all kinds of things so that there's
different kinds of things to motivate
students to get involved.
That's great.
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: Exactly.
CAT ALLMAN: So it's a contest, so there are prizes.
But are there benefits beyond cool stuff?
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: Definitely.
Now, everyone likes to get a prize, but it's also really
fun for the students to actually use the computer
science skills that they've learned in school or on their
own to actually apply those skills to real
world software projects.
So they also get to become part of a community, and being
appreciated for their work and their ideas is a huge boost
for, generally, these teenagers.
So it's cool to see your code actually in a project or to
see the film that you recorded describing the Open Source
project actually on screen.
CAT ALLMAN: How cool.
How does the contest actually work, though?
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: So starting on November 18, students
actually will go to the contest site-- which is
google-melange.com--
and they can register, and then they can
start claiming tasks.
There's a huge list of tasks up there that they can choose
from, and when they find something that interests them,
they just choose it, and they start working on it.
And if they have any questions along the way, there are
mentors that are actually assigned to each of those
tasks that are there to help them.
CAT ALLMAN: Fantastic.
Now, I know I was saying benefits,
but grand prize trip.
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: Yes.
That is a very popular question.
Everybody likes to hear about the grand prize trip.
So when students complete one task, they actually will get a
certificate of completion.
When they complete three tasks, they get a Google
Code-in t-shirt.
So that's pretty cool.
But we'll also have 20 students who are going to win
a grand prize trip to Google's Mountain
View, California campus.
And that will be for themselves and a parent next
spring for about four nights.
CAT ALLMAN: Oh.
I've been on this trip.
It's pretty fun.
So let's see.
Where can they go for more
information besides the website?
STEPHANIE TAYLOR: We also have the Google Open Source blog,
and they can join the Google Code-in discussion list where
they can ask questions, and other students, mentors and
Google program administrators will answer their
questions for them.
So, again, November 18 is the big day when students can
first start claiming tasks on the contest.
CAT ALLMAN: Fantastic.
We hope this interview spurred your interest in Google
Code-in, and if you are 13 through 17, a student, and
interested in Open Source software development, we
really hope you'll come to the site, learn more about it,
register and participate.
It's a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for watching.
Have a great day.