Getting Started Guide
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4 Easy Steps
After the contest starts, you can participate by following these 4 easy steps:
- Sign up at g.co/gci. Be sure to read the
Contest Rules.
- Have your parent or legal guardian sign the Parental Consent form.
- Find a task that interests you.
- Claim the task and start working on it!
Basics
At its core, open source is about making the
source code for a program available for anyone to see, use, or modify. But open
source is about more than just code -- it's about a global community coming
together through collaboration to write software.
Over twenty-five open source organizations participate in Google Code-in. Each one
is different. If you're attempting to be a Finalist or Grand Prize winner, you
might want to focus on tasks from only one or two organizations. It's important
to pick an organization that interests you. You can find more information about
each organization on the Google Code-in contest site.
Communication and Getting Help
Don’t wait until you are frustrated or the last minute before asking for help.
GCI is a global contest. Your mentors are volunteers with other commitments.
They are unlikely to be in your time zone. This means that it can take over a
day before you hear back from them.
Your mentors are automatically notified when you post a comment on a task or
submit it for review. They will respond.
Each organization will have a preferred/best communication method. Some might
prefer IRC, while others prefer mailing lists or Slack. Check the
organization's page on the contest site for what to use. These methods are
sometimes better than leaving comments on the contest site because there may
be other people who can help you sooner.
Be polite and considerate. Read the etiquette guide.
Helpful Tips
You can contribute without being a coder!
There are many different skill sets needed to help an open source community
thrive:
Documentation: Documentation is a huge part of a successful open source
project. Organizations need documentation to help attract users and new
contributors.
Research: An organization may need help crunching numbers or analyzing
feedback to better understand what the users want or need.
Outreach: Outreach is how open source projects attract new users and
developers. This includes making videos, organizing meetups, or helping
others learn about the project.
Training: Teach others how to use the project. This is a specialized form
of outreach or documentation.
Design: Design can include many types of tasks including
designing new visual aspects of a webpage or creating a new logo for the
project. It may also include various accessibility opportunities to help make
the project easier for people who are visually impaired.
Quality Assurance: Finding and verifying bugs is an important part of
software development.
Other: If you have an idea that may help an organization, reach out to them
and let them know! Sometimes the best task is one that the organization hasn’t
even considered yet.
Collaboration
Open source is not just programming. It is about working with other people to
find the best solution. Being a part of the community is an essential part of
success in Google Code-in. Mentors tell us every year that their best students
were the ones who worked hard on their projects but also participated on IRC and
helped answer questions other students had.
Mentors and Students each
have
roles and responsibilities.
Quality over Quantity
It’s not about being the student who completes the most tasks, that only gets
you to the top 20 -- it doesn’t mean you will be a grand prize winner or even a
finalist. Many students who completed the most tasks for their organization were
not named as Grand Prize Winners because they did everything solo and didn’t get
involved in the community.
Programming Skills
If you work on coding tasks, you should be comfortable in the programming
language required for that task. If you aren’t confident in your skills, you
might want to start with a non-coding task. If you are more comfortable with
HTML or CSS, consider taking on a task related to a project's website content.
Do not expect mentors to teach you how to program.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2024-07-23 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2024-07-23 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Code-in is a contest for pre-university students (ages 13-17) to contribute to open source projects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eParticipants can contribute through various tasks like documentation, research, outreach, design, and coding.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eActive community participation and collaboration are essential for success in the contest.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eQuality of contributions matters more than the quantity of tasks completed.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eChoose tasks aligned with your skills and interests, and don't hesitate to seek help from mentors.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["To participate, sign up at g.co/gci, have a parent/guardian sign a consent form, find an interesting task, and claim it. Open-source involves a collaborative community and offers diverse roles beyond coding. These tasks include documentation, research, outreach, training, design, and quality assurance. Communication with mentors is crucial and can take time. Focus on quality and community involvement, not solely the number of tasks completed. Mentors are not to teach you coding, but to guide you through the project.\n"],null,["# Getting Started Guide\n\n4 Easy Steps\n------------\n\nAfter the contest starts, you can participate by following these 4 easy steps:\n\n1. Sign up at [g.co/gci](http://g.co/gci). Be sure to read the [Contest Rules](/open-source/gci/resources/contest-rules).\n2. Have your parent or legal guardian sign the Parental Consent form.\n3. Find a task that interests you.\n4. Claim the task and start working on it!\n\nBasics\n------\n\nAt its core, [open source](https://opensource.org/faq#osd) is about making the\nsource code for a program available for anyone to see, use, or modify. But open\nsource is about more than just code -- it's about a global community coming\ntogether through collaboration to write software.\n\nOver twenty-five open source organizations participate in Google Code-in. Each one\nis different. If you're attempting to be a Finalist or Grand Prize winner, you\nmight want to focus on tasks from only one or two organizations. It's important\nto pick an organization that interests you. You can find more information about\neach organization on the Google Code-in contest site.\n\nCommunication and Getting Help\n------------------------------\n\n- Don't wait until you are frustrated or the last minute before asking for help.\n\n- GCI is a global contest. Your mentors are volunteers with other commitments.\n They are unlikely to be in your time zone. This means that it can take over a\n day before you hear back from them.\n\n- Your mentors are automatically notified when you post a comment on a task or\n submit it for review. They will respond.\n\n- Each organization will have a preferred/best communication method. Some might\n prefer [IRC](/open-source/gci/resources/irc), while others prefer mailing lists or Slack. Check the\n organization's page on the contest site for what to use. These methods are\n sometimes better than leaving comments on the contest site because there may\n be other people who can help you sooner.\n\n- Be polite and considerate. Read the [etiquette guide](/open-source/gci/resources/etiquette).\n\nHelpful Tips\n------------\n\n### You can contribute without being a coder!\n\nThere are many different skill sets needed to help an open source community\nthrive:\n\n- *Documentation:* Documentation is a huge part of a successful open source\n project. Organizations need documentation to help attract users and new\n contributors.\n\n- *Research:* An organization may need help crunching numbers or analyzing\n feedback to better understand what the users want or need.\n\n- *Outreach:* Outreach is how open source projects attract new users and\n developers. This includes making videos, organizing meetups, or helping\n others learn about the project.\n\n- *Training:* Teach others how to use the project. This is a specialized form\n of outreach or documentation.\n\n- *Design:* Design can include many types of tasks including\n designing new visual aspects of a webpage or creating a new logo for the\n project. It may also include various accessibility opportunities to help make\n the project easier for people who are visually impaired.\n\n- *Quality Assurance:* Finding and verifying bugs is an important part of\n software development.\n\n- *Other:* If you have an idea that may help an organization, reach out to them\n and let them know! Sometimes the best task is one that the organization hasn't\n even considered yet.\n\n### Collaboration\n\nOpen source is not just programming. It is about working with other people to\nfind the best solution. Being a part of the community is an essential part of\nsuccess in Google Code-in. Mentors tell us every year that their best students\nwere the ones who worked hard on their projects but also participated on IRC and\nhelped answer questions other students had.\n\nMentors and Students each\nhave\n[roles and responsibilities](https://developers.google.com/open-source/gci/help/responsibilities).\n\n### Quality over Quantity\n\nIt's not about being the student who completes the most tasks, that only gets\nyou to the top 20 -- it doesn't mean you will be a grand prize winner or even a\nfinalist. Many students who completed the most tasks for their organization were\nnot named as Grand Prize Winners because they did everything solo and didn't get\ninvolved in the community.\n\n### Programming Skills\n\nIf you work on coding tasks, you should be comfortable in the programming\nlanguage required for that task. If you aren't confident in your skills, you\nmight want to start with a non-coding task. If you are more comfortable with\nHTML or CSS, consider taking on a task related to a project's website content.\nDo not expect mentors to teach you how to program."]]
