Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by j_s 4287 days ago
Definitely don't give up!

I'd guess GSoC brings a lot of 'random internet strangers' to projects whose maintainers are highly motivated to reward known-quantity existing contributors (previously working for free) with the stipends.

Dealing with the personalities involved in open source can be the toughest part of the process; I recommend reviewing how previous contributions from others have been rejected before deciding to contribute yourself. Also, be sure to interact with the developers and community a bit (IRC, forums/issues, etc.) to get a feel for how well you fit in.