Mentorship programs for students in open source. Industry/Academia Partnerships

Mentorship and outreach programs are often considered side projects in both academia and the industry. Although they are a nice way to spend time and have some fun, one may say they rarely add new long-term contributors to a company project or a community, and that they are not always beneficial to students, especially on the Master and PhD level. Is this true? Or do we just

Let’s talk about organizing mentorship programs in partnership between open source projects and universities. How such contributions help to grow your current community and contributors, and how do they How to involve students and higher education orgs into wider community efforts? And what can they get from it? Let’s talk about various program types: from wide outreach programs like GSoC, individual mentorship programs or wide-reach programs like Hacktoberfest that can be leveraged by researchers. I will share some examples from my open source projects and Swiss universities, for example GSoC in the Free and Open Source Silicon foundation together with ETH Zurich.

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1. Mentorship programs for students in open source Growing community leaders and academia/industry partnerships Dr. Oleg Nenashev, Gradle Inc. / CH Open Member
2. speakerdeck.com/onenashev Disclaimer: this presentation does not represent the opinion of my employer or open source communities / organizations I am a member of
3. > whoami @oleg_nenashev oleg-nenashev Dr. Nenashev / Mr. Jenkins Serial community builder Developer Tools hacker Gradle + DevRel consultant #RussiansAgainstPutin #StandWithUkraine
4. Time * Once a contributor, [almost] always a contributor Neuchâtel 4 Mentor since 2010; Organizer since 2015
5. rts.ch/info/regions/neuchatel/12836885-la-population-neuchateloise-en-hausse-malgre-un-recul-dans-les-montagnes.html
6. rts.ch/info/regions/neuchatel/12836885-la-population-neuchateloise-en-hausse-malgre-un-recul-dans-les-montagnes.html
7. 7 Newcomer Migrant ACADEMIA AND EDU ARE EVERYWHERE
8. https://opensource.googleblog.com/2018/08/magnificent-mentors-of-gsoc.html 769 Many Mentors in GSoC programs
9. Few Swiss Students in open source internships https://developers.google.com/open -source/gsoc/resources/stats 1...8 students in 2018..2025
10. Good News on Local Internships • Many paid and unpaid internships in Switzerland • Mandatory internships in Universities • RAV and apprenticeship programs https://www.bfs.admin.ch/news/en/2024-0533
11. Industry Internships Bad for Academia?
12. a big tech * how some people see it
14. Mentorship programs are great collaborations / partnerships
15. Mentorship Programs in FOSS • Onboarding individual and org contributors • Community bonding and retention • Driving key initiatives • Guerilla marketing • Growing community leaders https://www.linuxfoundation.org/res earch/mentorship-in-open-source
16. Source: https://www.frontier sin.org/journals/psy chology/articles/10. 3389/fpsyg.2022.87 5940/full Partnership on Mentorship programs
17. Mentorship Programs • Learning experience for all parties • Community bonding • Nice2Have: Delivering Something • Nice2Have: Driving the project’s roadmap
19. Tanish Ranjan Hongjie (Jay) Wei Kotlin Foundation Gradle in Google Summer of Code 2024 community.gradle.org/events/gsoc
20. LFX Mentorships by the Linux Foundation https://medium.com/@akankshar8800/lfx-mentorshi p-learn-and-earn-with-open-source-aeaaf95c03b6
21. Community > Code
22. Community over Code © jenkins.io/participate 22
23. Not just code! Zainab Abubakar @zaycodes • Google Season of Docs 2020 ◦ jenkins.io/blog/2020/12/04/gsod-project-report • Keynotes at CloudBees/CDF events • Presented at the D&I Council at CloudBees • Multi-year SheCodeAfrica collaboration on documentation/code hackathons ◦ Event sponsorship ◦ Mentorship & Joint Projects
24. FOSS Mentorships are great for your org
25. For Academia • Industry Experience • Publicity • Long-lasting Partnerships • Portable Skills
27. • Umbrella for Particle Physics-related projects • Internships in open source SW/HW • GSoC and other FOSS programs
28. Source: https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2018/08/27/google-sum mer-of-code-outreachy-round-16/ • GSoC / GSoD • Outreachy • Google Code-In • Own Programs
29. Mentorship is great for Your Org • Open-source partnerships
30. 30 FOSS Standards and collaborations is a great way to start AI and More ….
31. Mentorship is great for Your Org • Open-source Partnerships • Features in your FOSS projects and products • Marketing content • Visibility in open source • Recruitment opportunities
32. https://youtu.be/dTY1eANYq7w?si=WYTmD5E1gXpZxctk
33. Mentorship is great for Your Org • (?) Open-source ecosystem around products • Features in your FOSS projects and products • Marketing content • Visibility in open source • Recruitment opportunities • Leadership practice for your teams
34. User Comitter Maintainer Community Leader Stakeholder or mentor Leadership is not about code Fast track to leadership
35. And What About You?
36. archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/selfish_contributor Being a Lead Mentor is hard… but rewarding James Bottomley, “The Selfish Contributor Explained”, FOSDEM 2020
37. Mentorship is great for YOU • Joint publications • Leadership practice • Learning together with mentees • Visibility in open source, network • Influence in the community
38. Exposure and Publicity Ewelina Wilkosz – Most Valuable Jenkins Contributor @ Jenkins World Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit – Select FOSS Event
39. Networking jenkins.io/blog/2020/01/29/gsoc-report/ 39
40. [Community] Leadership == Path to the next roles • Project and Group Leadership • Public Relations • Industry ;) • …
42. Summary • Mentorship in open source is not just volunteering, it helps everyone • Mentorships are good for your org • Mentorship is good for your career
43. Log the Takeaways 1. Checkout the local and global communities 2. Participate in mentorship programs 3. Share your experiences 43 Source: https://talesfromthewilds.blogspot.com/2012/11 /beaver-logging-and-lone-american-pipit.html
44. It’s [always] a great time to contribute! community.gradle.org/contributing jenkins.io/participate
45. Join open source orgs in Switzerland! | Education
46. In Suisse Romande // Just my highlights Cloud Native Suisse Romande
47. Tell your story at KCD Suisse Romande 04-05 December 2025 - kcd.cloud-native-romandy.ch
48. References • My slides: speakerdeck.com/onenashev/ • Gradle at GSoC: community.gradle.org/events/gsoc/ • Blog from the Dynatrace times: engineering.dynatrace.com/blog/mentoring- in-open-source-my-journey-so-far
49. Questions? Oleg Nenashev @oleg_nenashev