Hey folks, Eric invited me here. I'm the program lead at
Summer of Bitcoin, a non-profit that runs a global internship program for university students to work on bitcoin FOSS.
If you'd like to sign up and get a couple of interns work on your favorite project ideas under your mentorship, here's all the info you need:
Quick recap on how the program works:
1. Bitcoin open-source devs / designers sign up as mentors.
2. Mentors provide project ideas from their respective projects.
3. University students apply, get screened and submit a project proposal using the project idea as a starting point.
4. Mentors evaluate and select project proposals.
5. Students contribute code / design during the project period, as outlined in their proposals.
6. Mentors guide their mentees wherever they're stuck and help with reviews.
On time commitment from mentors:
We have typically seen mentors do a 30-60 min call once per week to discuss progress and unblock their interns on critical issues. Most teams simply add the intern to their weekly stand-up and work with them just like any other member of the team. Some also go totally async in their comms, especially when the project is relatively straightforward and the candidate is self-driven. We leave this part completely on both the mentor and their intern to figure out.
Timeline:
1. Application period: Feb 1 - Feb 15.
2. Bootcamp: Feb 16 - Mar 31.
3. Proposal period: Apr 1 - Apr 30.
4. Results announced: May 7.
5. Project period: May 15 to Aug 15.
What does a project idea look like?
Project ideas are scoped for a university-level student with a basic background in CS / UX design and bitcoin fundamentals. Project should be achievable over 12-weeks. Template for a project idea is available here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wQV5rhZ5DC5HO89K5-AVWkZLK3-QhqVPjjPQDwHzSZc/edit
Some project ideas from prior years for reference:
When do we need project ideas from you?
We're looking to publish project ideas on our website by the
end of this month, which is quite close already. But feel free to take a couple of additional days if you need. You can submit as many project ideas as you want. Here's a form to submit them:
https://www.jotform.com/form/240533114662044.
As a token of gratitude, mentors receive a gift of $500 in BTC once the program successfully concludes 🙂
Let me know if you have any further questions!