GSoC 2026: a Hopeful Rejection

TL;DR

I was rejected for GSoC 2026 after months of preparations. The dissapointment was tough but the entire experience integrated my into open-source culture. My prep work involved building a deep understanding of routing engine mechanics and systems engineering principles and thus gave me the necessary base to start my own FOSS project, Pico Router.

Helpful Definition

"Google Summer of Code is a global, online program focused on bringing new contributors into open source software development. GSoC Contributors work with an open source organization on a 12+ week programming project under the guidance of mentors." — summerofcode.withgoogle.com

How It Started

In late 2025 I happened to discover Google Summer of Code while watching a Green Code video. It happened to catch my eye due to it's "meritocratic" appeal (very attractive for any self-taught engineer), and let's be honest, the fact that it's backed by Google also had something to do with it. Being in the midst of my work on Focal Grid, and just being introduced to the world of GIS technology, I looked through the org list to find any project that could fit me. I ended up landing on OpenStreetMap due to the sheer variety of prominent GIS projects they maintain.

I checked the proposed projects page on the official wiki to find out there was only one project up for grabs at the moment. The project description boiled down to making a previous participant's full-stack routing application 'production-ready' by integrating it closer with one or more OSM routing engines. Remebering that "the early bird gets the worm" I checked out the repo and contacted the mentor to share my interest in the project.

The Prep Phase

• Introduction to OSS culture
• Exploring closures.osm.ch
• Exploring valhalla
• First community contact
• Maintainer feedback
• Summary of prep contributions

Summary of The Proposal

• Apparent problem to solve and main considerations
• Sidecar service written in Python to keep valhalla server applications in sync with closures in closures.osm.ch
• Components and steps of the service

Moving On

• Rejections and feeling of dissapointment
• Frustrating coincidences
• Reflecting on learnings
• Proceding to new ambitions