Are you interested in contributing to Drupal, but don't have the coding skills or experience necessary? Good news, now you have an awesome opportunity to contribute! Drupal is currently in the application process to be a part of the Google Code-In ( https://codein.withgoogle.com ) contest for pre-university students ages 13-17. Our current need is building a list of quality tasks for students to work on during the contest. Please realize these don't have to be code related tasks, but should fit into one of the following five categories: Code, Documentation/Training, Outreach/Research, Quality Assurance, User Interface.

The application process started Tuesday November 3rd and ends next Wednesday November 11th. Our goal is to submit an application with at least 50 quality tasks. Please contribue by adding task ideas directly our open to the public Google Spreadsheet ( https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BiVxgIpaJBDbh2-v-CCBxbA31U58Jofx... ) until midnight UTC-6 Sunday November 9th. After that, we need to see if Drupal is approved for the contest. If approved, we will need help creating, documenting, and mentoring an additional 150-500 tasks. The more tasks we setup the more opportunities we have to contribue to Drupal.

Did you know that organizations accepted into the GCI contest send the top two students on an all expense paid trip to Google in Mountain View with a parent/guardian? I know that I would be very excited as a young computer nerd to even have a chance to participate in such a program. As a community, we have a very good chance to make connections with young students who could end up spending a good amount of time focusing on Drupal after completing the contest. A good way to find quality contributors might be Drupal sending a few young people to California/GoogleHQ...

Details @links that explain everything about the contest:

• Official Website @ https://codein.withgoogle.com/
• Drupal's group to communicate about Code-In @ https://groups.drupal.org/google-code-in
• Drupal's spreadsheet to add code-in tasks pre-application @ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BiVxgIpaJBDbh2-v-CCBxbA31U58Jofx...

Timeline:

• Tue Nov 03 - Application Period Starts
• Wed Nov 11 - Application Period Ends
• Fri Nov 13 - Accepted Organizations Announced
• Mon Dec 07 - Contest Begins
• Mon Jan 25 - Contest Ends
• Wed Jan 27 - Deadline for mentor orgs to submit evaluations

How can I help?:

• Create Tasks
  • Submit pre-application task ideas @ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BiVxgIpaJBDbh2-v-CCBxbA31U58JofxWBx2aEVBrmM
  • At least 25 tasks to apply (5 in each of the 5 categories)
  • Register as a mentor by listing your personal details and availability in task spreadsheet.
  • Need 100+ additional tasks if accepted.
  • Our goal is to focus on Drupal 8 based tasks as there is plenty to work on.
    • Example task: Create a Drupal 8 install walk through video tutorial
    • Example task: Attend a Drupal User Group Meetup
  • How to think of tasks?
    • Tasks from previous years/organizations are listed at legacy code-in websites.
      • http://www.google-melange.com/gci/homepage/google/gci2012
      • http://www.google-melange.com/gci/homepage/google/gci2011
        • Specific example @ http://www.google-melange.com/gci/org/google/gci2012/kde
    • Previous Drupal Code-In tasks can be found from last year's initative.
      • http://www.google-melange.com/gci/org/google/gci2014/drupal
• Review Tasks
  • Need at least 25 tasks for application, but will require 100-200 tasks if accepted.
    • Help is needed to review and verify tasks are properly documented.
    • Tasks will be ready for review/feedback for all skill levels fo mentors.
• Mentor Tasks
  • Feel free to take ownership of tasks by becoming the primary contact.
    • Be apart of the entire process of creating, reviewing, mentoring, commenting, and approving completed tasks.
      • You might end up mentoring the next webchick!
  • Mentoring is not required for creating tasks, simply leave the mentor field blank.
• IRC  #drupal-google
  • Hangoout and provide support to potential students/mentors
• Do you or anyone you know work at an educational facility with 13-17 year olds? If so, spread the word of GCI!

Feel free to contact me or create nodes in the g.d.o group for additional information.
- Matthew@Lechleider.com
aka Slurpee