It was around mid-February when I decided that I want to participate in GSoC 2020. Since I was confident in Android App Development, I went about looking for organizations that had projects on Android, and there I found LibreHealth. They had great topics on App Development and Health Care topics. I noticed that very few people had approached the mentors of LibreHealth regarding the projects, and it was good to be part of the discussion at the early stage of GSoC. Out of the lot of projects they had, I chose 3 projects which I found interesting and in my range of skill set. I started pitching in points about the projects, discussing with mentors, and taking their feedback. I contributed to one of their open source project even though I did not choose that particular project for my GSoC Application.
However, when the GSoC opened their application portal on March 15, I was stuck in the middle of the pandemic. I had to move to my home from my hostel in college, and it took me a week to get back to my work on GSoC. I did not give up! I firmly believe that efforts are more important than the results. So I started working on my proposal for my GSoC application. The last date to apply was on March 31, 11:30 PM IST and I had not submitted the draft proposal until the penultimate day. Usually, the draft proposal gets reviewed by mentors, and they give feedback. In my case, I had submitted the draft proposal so late that I was unable to receive feedback from the mentors. So, I sent the final PDF of my proposal in the portal, hoping that everything was up to the standards.
From April to May, I couldn’t do much except hope for the best. However, I was interested in the project that I decided to work on the project irrespective of my selection in GSoC and that I didn’t want to let my momentum go down. So I started researching the project and got in contact with a few other individuals who had worked on a similar topic.
I had made decent progress on the project, and by the end of April, I had lost my hopes in GSoC. But, Destiny had other plans. It was around 11:10 PM IST, May 4th, and I was lying on the bed thinking about GSoC. I couldn’t handle the tension. So I decided to watch an episode of my favorite Netflix show ‘Shark Tank,’ which was about 25 mins. By the end of the show, it was already 11:31 PM, and I slowly closed Netflix and swiped towards the home screen of my Phone. I had my Gmail Widget on the Home Screen of my Phone. To my surprise, I saw the first mail which mentioned ‘GSoC: Congratulations, Your prop..’. For a second, I couldn’t believe it and opened the letter. I was finally selected for GSoC 2020. The news hit me really hard. I was so excited that I couldn’t tell my friend about the news, who was sitting right next to me. My mouth was half-paralyzed. The only thing that I spoke in the first 5 seconds after reading the email was ‘Goo… Goo. Google’. It was a special feeling!
To all those who read this article, It’s always the efforts that matter, not the result. Do not give up on your goals. Have a goal and work towards it.
Code Flow by Prajwal 