HahaBill

How to Have a Successful Application to Google Summer of Code ☀️

By Ton Hoang Nguyen (Bill)
Accepted to Google DeepMind (GSoC 2025) and Joplin (GSoC 2024)

Last Updated: Mon 26 May 2025

Hi! I welcome you to the document that explains how to create the most successful application for Google Summer of Code based on my observations and discovered patterns. This will not only apply to Google Summer of Code, but it will also be helpful in other aspects of your professional life.

There's a hidden pattern to successful Google Summer of Code applications - one that I discovered after being accepted to not just one but two GSoC organizations: Google DeepMind and Joplin.

HahaBill

🤖 Summarize your notes with Joplin AI!

1. Introduction

This is part of Google's annual summer program, which allows people to be involved in open-source development. Before joining, I had one experience with open-source with MindsDB, where I integrated spaCy (Python NLP package) into their system as part of Hacktoberfest 2023. Eventually, I became one of the winners, motivating me to stay in open-source!

I then remembered that my friend back in college told me about Google Summer of Code! It could be a fantastic experience. Therefore, I decided to join the program! I mainly searched for projects that were AI-focused, but there were few. However, luckily, I bumped into Joplin, and they had an idea to create a summarised for notes in their note-taking app an idea to create a summarised for notes in their note-taking app! It instantly caught my attention and decided that this is the project I want to s

HahaBill

/*
    The problem can be solve using two pointers:
        a. one (l) pointing to the first element
        b. the other one (r) pointing to the last element

    Then in a while loop, we iterate and compute the area
    by computing a distance (r - l) and taking the height
    of the building that is less tall. We then compare
    the temporary current result with the largest area
    (max).

HahaBill

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace ConsoleApp14
{
    class Program
    {