Google Summer of Code 2026: Volunteers Needed to Mentor Future Jenkins Contributors
TL,DR:
Jenkins is preparing to participate in its tenth (10th) year in Google Summer of Code (GSoC). We are seeking volunteers to be Jenkins mentors in the program:
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Mentoring takes about 5 to 8 hours of work per week for a 10-22 weeks program.
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Mentors provide guidance, coaching, review proposals, pull-requests, and contributor presentations.
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Sign up to mentor one of these project ideas or propose your own.
Don’t have time to read? Watch this video.
What is Google Summer of Code?
Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global, online mentoring program focused on introducing new contributors to open-source software development. GSoC participants undertake a programming project lasting 10 to 22 weeks, guided by mentors from their chosen open-source organizations. This experience pairs accepted contributors with experienced developers, offering valuable exposure to real-world software development techniques. Contributors gain the opportunity to learn from seasoned open-source developers while writing code for real-world projects. A small stipend is also provided to support and incentivize their open-source contributions. Refer to the GSoC contributor eligibility documentation for more details.
Why might you consider being a Jenkins in GSoC mentor?
Participating as a mentor is crucial to the success of GSoC. Mentoring is a wonderful opportunity to give back to the community while improving your management and people (or general “soft”) skills. In return for mentoring, a GSoC contributor works on your project full-time for 10-22 weeks. Think about the projects you’ve always wanted to tackle but never had the time to complete. The Jenkins project is excited to participate in this fantastic program again in 2026, and we hope you will join us!
What does mentoring involve?
Potential mentors are invited to read the information for mentors. Serving as a GSoC mentor does not require expert knowledge of Jenkins. Mentors do not work alone, every project has at least two mentors. GSoC organization administrators will help find technical advisers, allowing you to learn together with your GSoC contributor.
Mentoring takes about 5 to 8 hours of work per week (more at the start, less at the end). Mentors provide guidance, coaching, and encouragement. They review GSoC contributor proposals, pull-requests, and presentations during the evaluation phase. Mentors also complete the Google-provided final evaluations at the end of the coding period.
So you want to be a mentor but don’t have a project idea? We can help with that!
GSoC project ideas are coding projects that potential contributors are expected to accomplish in about 10-22 weeks. The projects can include new features, plugins, test frameworks, infrastructure improvements, graphical interfaces, and more. If you don’t have a specific project idea, consider being a mentor for one of these project ideas. If you do have a project in mind, please submit it before the beginning of February so it can be reviewed by the GSoC committee and the Jenkins community. We would love for you to mentor your own project idea.
How to submit a project idea
Create a pull request with your idea in an .adoc file in the project ideas directory.
Submitting a Google Doc is optional, though still acceptable.
Refer to the instructions for submitting ideas, which include an .adoc template and examples.
Need more inspiration?
A great example is the Plugin Health Score. This GSoC project idea began in the summer of 2022 and was implemented in the summer of 2023, benefiting millions of Jenkins users worldwide!
We look forward to welcoming new mentors for GSoC 2026!
For any questions, you can find the GSoC Org Admins, mentors, and participants on the GSoC SIG Gitter chat.
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