Research Stipend Contract: Fill & Download for Free

I started mine late…maybe not 35, but late. It ended up being an opportunity to take a break from my job, pursue my own ideas, work at night and wake up late, go to the gym every day, party like a student, teach classes. I got to travel to present at conferences and express my creativity…I was able to explore and play with my own ideas instead of just executing other people’s projects and agendas…and I wasn’t stressed out about the future and its uncertainties because I already had a career……and between the teaching contracts, the research stipends, and not having to pay the cost of going to work, it turned out to be basically free -The truth is most grad student think their lives are stressful…it’s not even close to the corporate life you’ve experienced by the time you’re 35.

I have been selected for GSoC last year as well as this year, hence I guess I am in a good position to answer this question.Now coming back to your question, GSoC internship is a big deal or not is relative to what you want to achieve. For example, if you want to do Masters then your GSoC internship might not be very useful there (although there are some research-based projects in GSoC as well). On the other hand, if you want to get a developer job then it will be highly appreciated in the industry.So IMHO, getting into GSoC is a big deal for many people due to following reasons:Working with awesome people: Chance to work with some of the brightest people across the globe ranging from scientists of CERN to professors of MIT or some senior developer working at Facebook. If not due to GSoC, I wouldn’t have got a chance to work with such awesome people.Better Programmer: This is the most important of all. Be it writing good quality code or learning new technology, you will learn all those things for sure. If you get a good mentor then it will help you more. Personally I learnt writing much better quality code then I use to write earlier. You will definitely become a better programmer. Period.Sense of Exclusivity: Be it SAT’s or IIT JEE, people who do well are considered a big deal in society (at least in India this is the case). Same is true with GSoC, each year only handful number of applicants get selected in the program out of thousands of applications. For example, in my university only one freshman year student get selected into GSoC, which makes him exclusive. I am not saying that other students of his batch are not good programmers but definitely he gets an edge. PS: It is very difficult to get into GSoC in the first year considering GSoC requires a lot of research besides programming.Open Source Contribution: Increasing awareness about open source software and OSS contributions among the student body is the motto behind GSoC. So as part of GSoC, one works on open source software in which hundreds of other contributors also work with you remotely. Working this way is not easy at first and teaches you how to work with large remote teams. Also, you become efficient in using technologies like Git. You also get a chance to use several other software which you might haven’t used earlier such as JIRA, IRC, HackPad, Slack, etc.Networking: You will get a chance to network with some of the very talented people around you. GSoC students, mentors or org admins are more than happy to be in touch with you even though you might never work with them. This network can help you in getting many job offers and other benefits.Google Tag: This is a very big reason for many students to apply for GSoC. Google is the leading company in the tech world and as part of GSoC, you get a chance to work as a contract developer for Google (you don’t directly work with google, google only conducts the program) which can help you to get a very good job or recommendation.Lot of Learning: Not just programming but you get to learn a lot of things be it writing your blog posts or presenting your work in front of large audience. GSoC helps you in learning these very important skills. Even in the entire process of GSoC, people do a lot of hard work from writing 20 pages long proposals to contributing every day on the projects for months. You also become very good at finding and fixing bugs.Stipend: In countries like India, Pakistan and other African countries, the stipend which we get as part of GSoC is way too much compared to other company interns (From this year google has reduced stipends for India and some other countries. Now stipend is based upon PPP. Still the amount of stipend is very good compared to other companies).Stardom: Now this might seems unusual but GSoC people have their own advantages be it showing off to their friends (girlfriend/boyfriend :p) or impress any professor with their GSoC work (trust me this works, ask any of your GSoC friends :D). This might not be true for all but it matters to many people.So considering the above possibilities and the amount of hard work involved in getting into the program, it becomes kind of big deal for selected students and others who want to peruse such things.PS: All the above points are my personal opinion which might or might not be true for everyone, also they are not in any particular order.Let me know if you find my answer satisfactory. Suggestions are welcome :)

JRF- Junior Research Fellowship is a fellowship (Rs. 25000/Month + HRA) offered by both CSIR & UGC to the eligible and selected candidates through written exams held twice a year as their stipend for doctoral studies or for their assistance in various projects.SRF: After getting 2 years experience in JRF , you become Senior Research Assistant.Research Assistant : A research assistant is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university or a research institute, for the purpose of assisting in academic research.Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) is hence a fellowship program offered by government to assist projects and do your Phd simultaneously. You have to enroll for Phd if you are undergoing fellowship in a university. It provides you opportunity to work in R&D.National Eligibility Test (NET) is conducted to select JRF candidates and it is offered to top 6% candidates approximately. Also just clearing the NET won’t promise you a University. You’ll have to undergo Personal interviews for admission in different Universities separately.