Places to find a group for online summer project

Question

The summer is coming up and I will be having a lot of time on my hands. I thought spending the time collaborating on a project online with several other passionated programmers somewhere in the world would be a great idea. I've never tried online collaboration before although I am used to working in larger teams and using source control, so it would mainly be the lack of direct communication that would be new to me. I would be interested in starting a project with programmers around my own level or (preferably) better and finishing the project over the summer/fall.

One problem, however. Where would I go about finding people for such a project? I'm not interested in joining an on-going project but rather be part of a new one. Certainly there must exist sites online where this is possible? The project properly wouldn't huge in any way. I'm thinking a little cozy project such as a arcade 2d game, a subtitle site, a world cup stats tracker or similiar.

Also, what would be a better approach. Finding the people for the project and then come up with an idea for the project or putting an idea out there and see if anyone was interested?

PS: If anyone on this site find the idea interesting feel free to post here or PM me and we'll have a talk about it.

Answer 1

The Google Summer of Code is really perfect for that (and there usually are very interesting projects to work on):

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source software projects. We have worked with several open source, free software, and technology-related groups to identify and fund several projects over a three month period. Since its inception in 2005, the program has brought together over 3,500 students and more than more than 4,000 mentors & co-mentors from nearly 100 countries worldwide, all for the love of code. Through Google Summer of Code, accepted student applicants are paired with a mentor or mentors from the participating projects, thus gaining exposure to real-world software development scenarios and the opportunity for employment in areas related to their academic pursuits. In turn, the participating projects are able to more easily identify and bring in new developers. Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and benefit of all.

Go check fast if you can still enroll.

Answer 2

To expand on Symen Timmermans answer, non-profit agencencies traditionally do not have the budget to fund many of their IT needs and would probably really appreciate some volunteer IT assistance. I would think you could easily muster up a summer project by approaching some agencies. Be clear that you are offering your services for free.

Besides gaining some exposure to some real-world problems, this may be an opportunity to network within your area. And it also looks pretty good on a resume.

This, perhaps, will lead you in the direction of a project. From there you could try contacting people you know or perhaps ask around at a local user group to see if anyone is interested in collaborating with you.

Answer 3

The OpenHatch.org website exists to help connect people with tasks that need to be completed on various Open Source projects, and to connect them with mentors in the target languages/technologies.

On the Volunteer Opportunities page, you can search through hundreds of open tickets in over 250 projects. On the People page, you can search for others who are willing to mentor you in the target subject with a search like can_mentor:"Python", or search for others near you, and more. The more people that join on the web site, the more visibility that it gets for more projects and people to come and participate, so why not join in the fun?

Answer 4

Why a programming project?

Your tag 'nonprogramming' sparked some ideas. Why don't you research possibilities in your neighbourhood for things like community projects? There might be plenty of organizations looking for you as a volunteer.

Though those projects might not seem as challenging as an innovative programming project can be, they can be really rewarding, especially if you directly witness the benefit your collective effort provides to others. Also you might learn a new skill, meet interesting people, and learn new things about yourself.

Think about it.

Answer 5

First you'd have to think about what kind of project you wanna do.

Game, etc..

Then I would look for a Forum / Community and start looking there for mini-projects.

I however have no particular site to offer you currently.

Also I believe the communities will depend on the languages etc... you are comfortable programming in.

Cheers,

Answer 6

Build It With Me is a website made for connecting developer and designers with ideas.

Answer 7

To find people to work with you on a new project, you have :

• to go where they are
• to convince them to work with you

Programming folks can be met directly on IRC. Go to a channel corresponding to the computing language you like, and you'll met great people, knowing your language and wasting their time on IRC. You have then to convince them to stop wasting time saying nothing on IRC and to go with you on a new project.

Summer is already well started, so you should choose a small project that can be useful to anybody. People will work with you if the project you propose them is interesting enough for them. Here is an idea of a useful tool that does not exist yet :

http://ha.ckers.org/blog/20100613/web-server-log-forensics-app-wanted/

Answer 8

You could try going to SourceForge and finding a new project or creating your own. They have a large community there so you shouldn't have any trouble finding people to work with.