Re: [gentoo-dev] One request for the next SoC: non already-devs students

[Richard Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

Thilo Bangert wrote:
> it's not just what you "sincerely think"! I most certainly think, you have 
> a valid point.
> 
> from http://code.google.com/soc/2008/faqs.html#0.1_goals:
> 

And yet from the same site:

7. Can students working on an open source project continue to work on it
as part of Google Summer of Code?

Yes, as long as they meet all other requirements for program
eligibility. Students should be sure to note their previous relationship
with the project in their applications. New work will need to be done
for the project as part of participation in GSoC.

> Google Summer of Code has several goals:
>   - Inspire young developers to begin participating in open source
>     development;

Do we inspire them by telling them that anybody who has made this choice
in the past is not to be rewarded financially for doing so?


A bigger concern is this.  Which is better for gentoo?  Taking somebody
who has never worked on gentoo and paying them money to possibly
accomplish something on the project, or taking somebody who is already
doing quite a bit and pay them so that they can accomplish even more
without the distraction of a day job?

I do think that recruitment is important, but I think it is a bit of a
slap on the face to those who do volunteer to suggest that they're good
enough to work for us but not good enough to pay (when it doesn't even
cost us a dime to do so).

Volunteers work on the stuff they want to work on - SoC isn't so much
about paying people to work on Open Source as much as it is about
enabling people to work on Open Source when otherwise they'd have to do
something else to pay the bills.  If somebody doesn't currently want to
volunteer for Gentoo, why would they want to after the paychecks stop?
And if they do currently volunteer for Gentoo, why would we force them
to get involved with some other Open Source project if they wanted to be
paid as part of the SoC?
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