Arguably a bit overdue, but here is the report for the Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit 2013. Enjoy!

This year 52°North was a first time participant as a mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code. After successful completion of all of our four projects, we were very glad to be invited to the Mentor Summit at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California. 52°North was represented by our organization administrator Daniel Nüst, who organized the application and supported all mentors and students throughout the duration of the program and participated in the two day “unconference”.

Mentors from all over the world came together to visit Google’s Headquarters. This included a trip to the famous Android figures, visits to the company canteen and coffee kitchen (yes, plenty and good!), and a few glimpses into the day of a Googler: going to the Googleplex in a white bus with fast Wi-Fi, a nice atmosphere on a modern campus, checking out the Google Store during lunch break, and peeks into individually decorated cubicles.

In addition to the surroundings, Daniel enjoyed the conference very much and participated in lively discussions about very diverse topics, such as FOSS for Geo, Government & Open Source, Umbrella Orgs, ensuring success of GSoC projects, improving student selection, and Open Source & Science. Mentors across countries and projects got to know each other, shared thoughts and talked about Open Source during the sessions and the informal evening events. It was a great experience.

The Mentor Summit was the perfect ending to a successful participation in an awesome program and we very much look  forward to applying again next year (hoping the program is run again).

Until then: Happy coding!

[Group photo by Robin Smidsrod.]