The open-source world is such an interesting place to be in! From groundbreaking projects to collaborative communities, it's a force for positive change. And guess what? You're about to become part of it! Landing an Outreachy internship programme is a fantastic first step towards contributing your tech skills and making a real impact. This guide will equip you on how to navigate Outreachy's onboarding process smoothly and efficiently.
What do you know about Outreachy?
Outreachy is a paid remote internship programme that connects people from underrepresented groups in tech with paid, remote internships in open source projects. These internships can involve coding, design, documentation, or data science tasks, all contributing to the development of free and open-source software (FOSS).
- Note: Candidates who were GSoC interns earlier are not eligible for Outreachy even if they have not completed their GSoC program successfully.
The 3 months internship programme runs twice a year, May to August and December to March. Here are some eligibility rules you can consider:
Non-student
You can apply to either internship cohorts.
Student
You must have 42 consecutive days free from school and exams during the internship period. If you're a student of the Northern hemisphere, you're only eligible to apply during the May - August cohort. If you're a student of the Southern hemisphere, you're only eligible to apply for the December - March cohort. While if your university is near the equator, you can apply to any internship cohort.
Graduating Student
If you're a graduating student of the Northern/Southern hemisphere, then you can apply to the May 2025 Outreachy internships. As long as your last school term ends before July 10, 2025.
You can read up more about Outreachy’s eligibility rules
The Initial Stage
This is the first application you will write for Outreachy. When applying for this stage, don't wait until the last day to submit your application because they are reviewed on a first-come-first-served basis.
Create your account
Click on the apply button
The initial application process for Outreachy mainly focuses on essays. To streamline your workflow and prevent potential loss of progress, consider drafting your responses in a notepad before transferring them to the application form later. This approach helps optimize your time and reduces the risk of losing your work on the site. Also, you can keep them for future applications.
Let your essay be as detailed as possible to give them a clearer understanding of who you are and what discrimination or underrepresentation you have faced in your country.
Do not add links to your resume or any contact information in your essay.
You can read up more about the initial application stage
The Contribution Stage
In this, you will learn a lot. This is the stage where you show how committed you're to learning and contributing to open source. You will be granted access to a list of projects you're to contribute to, try not to feel overwhelmed.
Take your time to browse through the list of projects and see where your knowledge and experience fits. Each project will list out the required, preferred and nice to have skills. This way, you will find it easier to know what project(s) you want to contribute to.
You can contribute to 1 or 2 projects, the important thing is to deliver quality contributions. So, if you know you can't manage with 2 projects, only stick to 1 and give it your all.
In contributing, get comfortable with learning about new softwares and apps GitLab.
Also, make sure you record at least 3 solid contributions with links to where your contributions were approved, not a link to your personal Google docs file.
Interested in contributing to Fedora?
If you want to contribute to Fedora like I did, here are some of the things you should know.
Get acquainted with these software if you are not already:
Matrix
GitLab
HackMD
Pretalx
The Final Application
Final application stage is where you tidy up your contributions and fill out the form to submit. You cannot fill the final application without at least 1 recorded contribution.
As you embark on the Outreachy journey for 2025, remember to give it your best shot. If you don't get in this time, don't be discouraged—Outreachy runs twice a year, offering ample opportunities to try again.
Keep pushing your boundaries, honing your skills, and embracing the spirit of inclusivity. Your persistence will pay off. Best of luck on your Outreachy adventure!
You can read up all about the application guidelines on the Outreachy website