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My friends used to poke me for writing long messages while texting. I thought why not benefit from it? I have led communities, ran startups, built viral apps, and made youtube vlogs.. Yes, I am an engineer.
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Are you a fan of open-source and appreciate the role of programs such as Google Summer of Code (GSoC), Linux Foundation Mentorship (LFX), and Outreachy in promoting the culture of open-source amongst the students by incentivizing their contributions? Then you will love C4GT.
Code for Gov Tech or C4GT is an initiative by SamagraX to create a community that can build and contribute to global Digital Public Goods. Sounds fancy? let me explain in simpler terms. It is a 2-month long coding program where the goal is to contribute to different projects under the mentorship and guidance of industry experts. The projects here referred to as DPGs above, are built to be used by a large number of people and they are all open-source.
The plan is to build a community of students and working professionals who contribute actively towards the development of software products that can be used at a large scale by the governments. People around the world appreciate open-source projects. It is very widely said that a lot of big projects are built upon some open-source projects being maintained by a small group of contributors. By open sourcing, one can be sure that bugs can be easily caught and rectified. And you can easily integrate them into your projects by making modifications wherever needed as the whole code base is available to you. Compare that to hiring an external agency for building a product as per your needs. Not only that it will take higher resources, but having a small addition to the earlier demands will lead to multiple rounds of negotiation. And this is where the need for using and building open-source projects comes in. With DPGs, organizations like SamagraX are planning to fill this gap. With programs such as C4GT, they plan to spread awareness about the open-source culture, and its benefits. It also aims to encourage people to contribute to more such projects.
We are currently living in an era, where breakthrough innovations in Artificial Intelligence are powering a range of tools good enough to automate a lot of complex tasks ranging from building websites to writing a piece of code for doing a particular task. As a student, we must have the caliber to adapt to changing environments and don't limit our learning curve. A few years down the line, the skills and experience of an individual will be given more preference over their degrees or some certificates. As a beginner, it is also a bit difficult to land an opportunity to work on real-world projects in a company. Open source projects provide the perfect combination of working on large-scale projects and learning new skills on the way, just as you might while working in a company.
Programs such as GSoC, and C4GT make it even easier for beginners to get started with contributing to such open-sourced projects. In the long run, it helps build a credible record for the student demonstrating their contribution skills that no other certificate can convey at a glance. The mentorship that comes with such programs helps in the overall development of the student. In case they face any difficulty while contributing, they can easily consult their mentor and get the issue resolved.
Not only that, C4GT carries a fancy stipend to encourage even more participation from the contributors. The successful completion of the program by the contributors offers them a chance to get a PPI/PPO from the organization they contribute to. All these rewards and benefits make C4GT a perfect opportunity for students to get started with open-source and contribute to their favorite projects. While the program is going to last for 2 months, the aim is to encourage the contributors to keep contributing towards the project for years to come and spread the word about it. Programs like this empower students to gain real-world experience by working on large-scale projects while they are still pursuing their studies.
The program had a successful edition 1 in 2022 where 13 contributors contributed to 9 different projects in two months under the guidance of 7 mentors. Currently, the program is in its second edition. With 104 projects across 38 products from 20 participating organizations and the mentorship of 70+ mentors, the program is sure to create tides, setting new records and leaving a long-lasting impact on the students. As of writing this article, the list of selected contributors is yet to be released. Fun fact, I have submitted three proposals for this edition. While I wait for the results, you can consider joining the discord community of C4GT and get to know about the working of DPGs or get solved any other doubts you may have, by the helpful community members.
If you learned something new today, don't forget to share this knowledge with others. Do you know about any more such open-source programs aimed at students? let me know through the comments below.
