LFX Mentorship '23 Term 02 June - August

[nate-double-u]

Hello from KubeCon EU everyone!

The LFX Mentorship 2023 Term 02 June - August is open for project ideas:
https://github.com/cncf/mentoring/tree/main/programs/lfx-mentorship/2023/02-Jun-Aug

Project submission and application timeline:

• project proposals due: May 9, 2023
• mentee applications open: May 10 - 23, 2023
• application review/admission decisions/HR paperwork: May 24 - 29, 2023

If your Google Summer of Code proposal was declined, this is a good alternative -- proposals can be copied over almost 1:1.

We're looking forward to seeing all the project ideas you're interested in working on!

Timeline

Mentorship duration - three months (12 weeks - full-time schedule)

activity	date
project proposals due	Tue, May 9, 5:00 PM PDT
mentee applications open	Wed May 10 - Tue May 23, 5:00 PM PDT
application review/admission decisions	Wed May 24 - Mon May 29, 5:00 PM PDT
Mentorship program begins with the initial work assignments	Thur June 1 (Week 1)
Midterm mentee evaluations and first stipend payments	Wed July 12 (Week 6)
Final mentee evaluations and mentee feedback/blog submission due, second and final stipend payment approvals	Wed Aug 23, 5:00 PM PST (Week 12)
Last day of term	Thur Aug 31

---

Announcement email

[MahadMuhammad]

Hello, @nate-double-u! I am interested in applying for the LFX Mentorship '23 Term 02 June - August program during the summer (assuming I am not accepted into GSoC). I was wondering if there are any project ideas that have been selected on your end. I am eager to learn and contribute to LFX

[nate-double-u]

Hi @MahadMuhammad, Thanks for your interest! Currently we're still looking for project proposals. Mentee applications open May 5th. If you're looking for more information on how to participate, I'd suggest looking at this getting started https://contribute.cncf.io/contributors/getting-started/ article.

[MahadMuhammad]

Thanks @nate-double-u for letting me know :)

[nate-double-u]

Please note that because of KubeCon, and Google Summer of Code's announcement window, we've extended the project proposals period! (and shifted other dates accordingly)

Project proposals are now due May 9, 2023.

[razvand]

Hi, @nate-double-u. What projects can apply for the LFX Mentorship? They must be CNCF-approved projects?

[nate-double-u]

Hi @razvand, this program is for CNCF projects at any level (sandbox, incubating or graduated).

[satyampsoni]

HI @nate-double-u. I came to know about this program today only. Can I still apply for it and what are the requirements to fulfill for this program.

[nate-double-u]

Hi @satyampsoni, the program is in it's proposals phase right now. The project maintainers are currently submitting ideas for mentes to work on. Next week mentee applications will be opened -- you'll see instructions and links to apply on the Term 02 - 2023 June - August page.

For information on getting started I recommend reading our page for mentees, and Do you want to start contributing to open source and need help figuring out where to begin?

[rukundob451]

Hello @nate-double-u, been keeping an eye for this program through and currently waiting for the mentee applications to be opened. Hoping I can be a part of the Term 02 - 2023 June - August that is incoming.

[satyampsoni]

As a mentee will I be asked to write the proposal?

[haanhvu]

You mean as an applicant?

To apply for the LFX mentorship program, you just need to submit your resume and cover letter. However, some orgs may later check your understanding/suitability for the project through interviewing, asking you further questions, or asking you to send a project proposal.

[nate-double-u]

A friendly reminder for project maintainers, CNCF LFX mentorship term 2 project proposals are due tomorrow! (Tue, May 9, at 5:00 PM PDT)

[antonio-pedro99]

Hello @nate-double-u, I just want to make sure the mentee applications are now open.

[aliok]

Hi @antonio-pedro99 ! They are not open yet.

@nate-double-u is working on it. We will write a message here on this discussion entry when they're open.

[aliok]

Applications are now open: #988 🎉

[rukundob451]

Hello @nate-double-u kindly confirm whether mentee applications are now open?

[aliok]

Hi @rukundob451 ! They are not open yet.

@nate-double-u is working on it. We will write a message here on this discussion entry when they're open.

[nate-double-u]

Thanks @aliok, this is true, I'm going through the process, and the next step is to get LFX approval. I'm hoping this will be mostly done today. I will make an announcement when it's all ready, thanks for the patience, and I'm sorry for the delay.

[satyampsoni]

Thanks for informing and putting so much efforts in the backend.

[aliok]

Hello,

Applications are now open: #988 🎉

[aliok]

Thanks for the project ideas you've proposed as a mentor!

Applications for mentees are now open: #988

Please inform your community about the LFX Mentorship opportunities and expect mentee candidates looking to engage with you and your community.

[q82419]

Hi @aliok ,

Due to some technical issues, my email in LFX profile is still not updated to the mentor account info.
Can you help to invite again with email q82419 at gmail dot com ?
Thanks!

[q82419]

Hi @aliok @nate-double-u ,

I found that the LFX profile updated and my email is corrected.
But I didn't be added as the mentor of this and this projects.
Can you help for this issue?
Thanks!

[nate-double-u]

Hi @q82419, It looks like your profile on those projects is the one attached to the email provided in the project proposals. So I'm not sure why you wouldn't have been invited to the system.

Could you open a support ticket here: https://jira.linuxfoundation.org/plugins/servlet/theme/portal/4/create/131
(I don't have visibility into the LFX backend, but the folks at support can help)

[q82419]

Hi @nate-double-u ,

Nevermind, I opened the support ticket and they helped to sync the email in my LFX profile 2 days ago.
But you sent the invitation last week, so I've been added as the mentor after you re-send the invitation.
Thanks!

[nate-double-u]

Thanks for letting me know. I'm glad things are sorted.

[kunal00000]

Hey @aliok,

Is there a way we can specify our priority for projects.
Like if I apply to 3 projects then can I specify which project I want to get selected as my priority.

[asmitbm]

Hi @kunal00000

No, you can’t specify the priority for the projects. However if you get selected for multiple projects, you can only select only one project of your choice and withdraw from the others. More information can be found in a blog post by an LFX Mentee in a similar position.

[ppatierno]

@nate-double-u @aliok I think I made a mistake when creating my LFX mentor profile not selecting the right project I should be the mentor for. I noticed this issue just today, is it possible to move forward and accept my request please? The project is this one (where it shows only Kyle as mentor and not me).

https://mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org/project/8d301adf-94d8-4e5d-821d-f904ed15c3f9

[antonio-pedro99]

@ppatierno how can I dm you? I am interested in this project and I would like to have more info from you

[ppatierno]

@nate-double-u @aliok reading previous posts I think the problem is a different email. I am using my LFX profile with my personal email (a gmail one) but the invitation to be a mentor came to the email listed in the project proposal (a redhat one). Because I want to use my current LFX profile (with personal email), how can I sync them? I just opened a ticket to LFX.

[ppatierno]

@antonio-pedro99 you can use the email listed in the project proposals

[nate-double-u]

@ppatierno opening a ticket with the LFX is a good path. If you want to share the email you'd prefer to use I can also make the update. If you'd like you can dm me in the CNCF slack: @nate-double-u.

[ppatierno]

@nate-double-u I am in now, thanks!

[MariamFahmy98]

@nate-double-u @aliok I created my mentor profile and I requested to mentor Kyverno: validating admission policy phase 2. However my request hasn't been accepted yet.

[nate-double-u]

I've just added you -- you should get an email shortly.

[kannon92]

Can I get some help on https://mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org/project/73d90321-62b3-498e-bf37-d899ec99df9e? I noticed that I added Geoffrey Wilson and I as mentors for this project but Geoffrey is the only one listed.

Is it possible to add me to the project list also?

[nate-double-u]

Hi @kannon92, could you please reach out to me on the CNCF slack: @nate-double-u. I have you listed twice on that project.

[ppatierno]

While reviewing the mentee list, I noticed that they are just providing a resume and cover letter.
Compared to what I am used to with GSoC, the process sounds to be a little bit weak.
With GSoC, the students have to provide a proposal where they describe the design and the solution they have in mind. It's a way for providing feedback and see how the student reacts in order to understand how much he/she is keen to work, how much understanding, etc etc. It's difficult picking a good candidate with just a resume and cover letter.
How others are dealing with this? I see you can add a "Task" (but it seems to be only for accepted meente?). It would be cool to add a task due to in a couple of days to get more tech-oriented proposals before making the right choice by May 29th.

@nate-double-u @aliok any thoughts on this?

[aliok]

(wearing my mentor hat)
Thanks for the feedback @haanhvu . This is actually a good idea. Also, I like how asking for a proposal is embedded in the upstream ticket. Genuinely interested applicants will notice that.

[chipzoller]

What I have done for my mentorship with the Kyverno project is similar to a proposal but I have framed it as a "challenge" instead which must be answered in the cover letter and in an external git repository. You can see the issue where this is spelled out here. I have decided to take this route because I have historically not had good results in my mentees with these LFX mentorships. In the response, I'm searching for these qualities:

• Can the applicant follow directions? In many cases, they don't even acknowledge the challenge, they just submit résumé and cover letter. They are immediately eliminated. Mentees which cannot follow basic directions will cost more time and frustration than the output they'll deliver, and it'll typically lead to a poor experience for both.
• Can they self-start? The tool being used here is esoteric and so almost no one will have prior knowledge. I'm not looking for prior experience, I'm looking specifically for if they can get up and running by themselves and into a functional state without much (preferably any) hand-holding. This is important because, at this stage, I have already provided a tutorial on how to install and use the tool and pointed to a repository of our own with hundreds of examples. An ideal mentee will have enough to go on.
• Can they think critically? Writing great tests is about critical thinking in all the ways something can be bent and abused, and then covering each of those scenarios. Basic candidates will be able to think of the positive side of things ("Does it work when it should?"), but the ideal candidates also exercise the negative path(s) as well ("Does it work when it shouldn't?"). This is probably the most desirable criteria I want to see because it means they'll be able to grasp the concept and evolve in the desired direction, and typically in the time span required for this type of mentorship.
• Can they be technically accurate? This is the least important as it is directly proportional to time and experience with the tool, which, as stated will not be an expectation. But in this area, I still want to see their level of detail. This is detail from the perspective of not just bugs but optimum expression. Things that don't work are obviously problematic, but things which do work not that great are also not highly desired. I want to see here that they doing things with high quality.

[nate-double-u]

@ppatierno, there is a way to ask for extra files in the LFX system, and i believe that we can also link out to coding challenges (though I haven't done that yet, so we'd have to discuss how it would work). This should be included in the proposal PR (either in the discussion around the proposal, or in the proposal itself).

I'll make an update to the proposal instructions to help make it clear that proposals can include more than just a cover letter and resume.

[ppatierno]

I was new with LFX mentoring program but I had experience in GSoC as mentor, tbh I didn't know that LFX mentoring was "lacking" from this perspective, I mean that the process itself didn't take a deeply design proposal into account but instead just a resume and cover letter. Giving the freedom to the different communities to ask what they want is ok, but in any case I think that LFX mentoring should have an higher bar as a baseline.
This time I went by pinging the few candidates I thought they could have been good ones and asked them for proposals.
Over this weekend there was a forth and back with them, with comments, feedback, discussions and it was good.

[yurishkuro]

Having gone through my first LFX program applications as a mentor just now, it feels like a proposal should be a table-stakes requirement at the CNCF level, with some standard minimum guidelines/questions. On my project only 15% of applications had proposals, even though we stated it in the upstream tickets - next time I will be mentioning them directly in the project description in this repo.

I also think the schedule is rather rushed. With GSoC we had applicants trying to work on good-first-issue tickets, but there's no time for that in LFX program.

[arkajyotiMukherjee]

I was added as a mentor with an email id that is not my primary id in my CNCF account. So my name is not showing up in this project https://mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org/project/983193ea-9cca-405f-baa5-e6ade4df1ba2
I have raised a support ticket in JIRA as well. Would someone be able to help me here?

[TerryHowe]

Same

[nate-double-u]

Could you both reach out to me in the CNCF Slack (@nate-double-u), and provide me the email you use with your LFID? (or which you would prefer to use in this case)

[achiverram28]

@nate-double-u when can we expect the results of this terms lfx mentorship ? As in the repo , it is given that today is the last day for the review

[nate-double-u]

The deadline for selections is 5:00 pm PDT, then we need to do some paperwork. I'd expect results in the next day or so.

[eddycharly]

@nate-double-u I wanted to validate @VedRatan for https://github.com/cncf/mentoring/tree/main/programs/lfx-mentorship/2023/02-Jun-Aug#cleanup-policies-phase-2. Am I too late ?

[nate-double-u]

Please use the form sent to the mentors to make your selection. If you haven't received that email, please DM me in the CNCF slack (@nate-double-u).

[eddycharly]

I submitted the form, thanks 🤞

[ppatierno]

So it seems that the mentee we chose is shown on the project page on the LFX website. He also contacted us directly to mention he has got an email from LFX for being accepted. We, as mentors, didn't get any. Can we assume that the project is now funded and we can start the mentoring?

@nate-double-u @aliok any insights ?

[nate-double-u]

Hi @ppatierno, I'll be sending a semester launch email tomorrow, and the semester starts on June 1, so you're welcome to reach out to your mentee and start welcoming them into the community!

[satyampsoni]

The project shows no mentee found which I have applied for. What does that mean?

[nate-double-u]

Which project? Most projects now should have selections made (there are a couple still going through their process). But most of the projects should have a mentee listed at this point.