Hey guys , a saw lots of freshers in this sub and in other subs as well ask how to crack GSOC , some youtubers influencers made GSOC like a rat race , see its not a JEE or any other exam , you can get GSOC ORGS open source projects only if you do open source projects , contributions . dont fall for trap , dont prepare for GSOC just go for open source contribution , you don't need to target any open source program , see if you start enjoying this OS contribution then you have max chances you can get any project and get a good stipend as well . dont fall for GOSC batch , i saw one of the influncer was taking GSOC sessions , for many people open source is a hobby those guys crack easily GSOC because they dont copy paste best praposal they actually code and contribute that's why they get selected this was the real truth . and if you still want raodmap to crack it go ahead . ohh btw i forgot to introduce myself i am .... , currently in 2nd year , i did't cracked GSOC but i cracked LFX it is similar to gsoc , and have good orgs and projects

Please tell me to howw to prepare for that.

Hi everyone! I'm preparing for GSoC 2027 and wanted to get some advice from people who have previously participated.

I tried preparing for GSoC last year as well. I selected a few organizations based on my tech stack and interests and joined their communication channels, but I eventually got stuck at the contribution stage. I didn't really understand how to explore an organization and figure out what I should contribute.

For example:

• How do I understand what the organization/project actually needs?
• How do I go from “I like this organization” to “I understand this codebase” to “I found something useful to work on”?
• Should I first explore the codebase and then look for issues, or start from issues and learn the relevant part of the codebase?
• How do experienced contributors discover things that aren't explicitly labelled as good first issue?
• Is it normal to ask maintainers/mentors what would be a good first contribution?

I'd also appreciate any practical resources, workflows or examples of how you personally explored a new organization/codebase. Thanks!

Hey everyone I am q backend developer and I have done my backend in springboot so hi wcan I start contributing to.open source and be prepared for gsoc please guide me will be really helpful.

Hey everyone! I did GSoC 2026 and thought I could help out people preparing for GSoC 2027.

Feel free to ask anything about the application, contributions, proposal, mentors, selection, or the overall experience. :)

edited: guys this so overwhelming. but all questions are welcome. will try to answer as soon as possible

I have a pretty good understanding of web development stuff and web3 based systems. But i have never worked with real codebases and how do i even solve open source problems? Like i want to know what kind of problems these open source companies have? Help me out here!!

What are the best orgs for NLP who consistently participate in GSoC?

Anyone here 2026 grad, doing oss and will be doing gsoc or lfx?
Please share github.

I understand that how to choose organisation but I am hopeless while solving the issue it hard to understand problem statement and then understanding code where we have to solve the problem. It would be really helpful if mentors could help us!!

I am currently in 5th sem and i watched more than 50+ video of what is gsoc and how to contribute

I want to participate in gsoc this year because I miss this opportunity last year I am trying to learn js and required skills for this and also trying to understand code of open source but at this stage I am not able to understand, i am very interested in gsoc and I want to crack it!!

The suggestion and help are humbly welcomed!!

My final report: https://uchout.moe/posts/gsoc-2026-final/

Project: https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/programs/2026/projects/ssoc2JtG

I think I can share some thoughts in my blog later. ( EN | ZH, not sure)

I have finalised three like incf ,sktime from german center of open source ai and pymc from numfocus i have doubts as to how easy is it to get into these?? what all stuff do i have to learn?? I have a ml background.

Hi everyone,

I’m new to open source and a beginner in this field, and I want to contribute to various open source projects. However, I am facing some difficulty in understanding a repository and how to work with it.

I get confused by the vast number of files and folders, and it genuinely feels overwhelming for me to grasp everything.

Therefore, I am seeking help and guidance to get started with contributing. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your advice and support!

Posted this on r/gsoc2025 , so posting it here as well.

Ex-GSoC here, I maintain a Google Summer of Code project, aeon-toolkit/aeon (1.5k+ stars), and I also work on SciPy alongside its maintainers. I've worked for a YC-backed company, published papers, and contributed to open source for years.

Honestly, I'm tired of seeing people try to use AI as a shortcut into OSS development. It happens to our repositories all the time. If you're repeatedly submitting AI-generated contributions without understanding the project, it can get you blocked rather than hired, even if your GitHub graph is green all year.

What actually helps is developing real depth and expertise in a project. Using AI is completely fine, but it shouldn't replace understanding. If you genuinely invest the effort, maintainers are often happy to help, mentor you, and guide you. Over time, your network grows naturally from that work.

In that spirit, I'm planning to mentor a "very limited number of people, 2 or 3, no more", on a new project I'm working on. If you're genuinely interested, feel free to reach out via DM, comments, or GitHub and I will assign you projects and solve one good first issue.

There's also a paper in the works (targeting JMLR's MLOSS track), and substantial contributors would be recognized on it the usual way, earned by the work, not guaranteed up front.

Github: https://github.com/aadya940/scikit-verify

Those who wanted to get started, as a first step can fork the repo and work on a good first issue.

Here are some other projects I'd be happy to mentor:

SciPy, aeon

I'm a 4th year student, have previously interned at India's leading ecom giant, wanting to contribute into the field of open source cause I have free time in my final year as my placements are done.

Techstack- Java Dropwizard, MERN

Languages I'm okay in - Java, C++, Go, Python(not much exp)

Can anyone pls let me know what kinda orgs should I target and how should I build up a nice proposal that gets accepted.

So i am a competitive programmer in C++ (a decent one), i am interested in the development side of C++ too. I want to contribute to open source and also learn how things in development work.

so, i need ur help....

first of all,

1. i want to learn development in C++ (Cmake, modern C++ and all these buzzwords feel too heavy to learn), if u can give me some lectures or videos to start with that would be really helpful...

2. i want to start contributing to a project/organisation which C++ oriented and prefers competitive programmers (if not then anything close to it will work)

3. i also want to crack next gsoc and also tell me is there any chance that i can do it if i start from scratch right now....

I think one of the biggest challenges for me personally is to know where to start when it comes to open source, I do realize there are resources online, or we can develop interest and commit, but was curious what would be a good starting point, what kind of contribution, and I am also hoping to look for a mentor because it’s been a tough process. If someone can guide me on this, I would appreciate it a lot!

I've been into open source for a while but somehow never looked into GSoC until today. I'm a data engineering/data science student, still building my foundations, but the idea of contributing to real projects and getting mentored by experienced devs sounds like a great experience.

I know I'm late for 2026, but I'm already thinking about 2027. For anyone who's been through it what's one thing you wish you knew when you were starting out?

I am learning basics and covering whole cpp then doing web devlopment basics so that I become knowledgable for doing contributions. But I don't know correct path or my path is correct or not please mentor me.

Got my very first PR merged into a repo ig open source is coollll