The Calico Challenge is a Palisadoes program that offers stipends to student developers to write software code for various open source software projects. It allows students to publicly show the quality of their work.
It is open to Jamaican students residing in Jamaica for the duration of the exercise. Our projects are advanced. A majority of participants are enrolled in university or college Computer Science and Computer Engineering programs.
Your proposal should include the following:
Your proposal should also include details of your academic, industry, and/or open source development experience, and other details as you see fit. An explanation of your development methodology is a good idea, as well. It is always helpful to include contact information as well, as it will not be automatically shared with your would-be mentors as part of the proposal process.
Please use the recommended template for your proposal. It is linked from the ideas page. Check the forms section of this page.
Regardless of what you include in your proposal, we recommend you speak to our team on on our slack channel to get a better idea of what we are looking for in a proposal to give you the best chance of success in your proposal.
Yes, each student may submit up to five proposals. However, only one proposal will be accepted. Quality is better than quantity.
Yes, as long as they meet all other requirements for program eligibility. Students should be sure to note their previous relationship with the project in their proposals. New work will need to be done for the project as part of participation in Calico.
Yes, as long as they meet all other requirements for program eligibility. Students should be sure to note their previous relationship with the project in their proposals. New work will need to be done for the project as part of participation in Calico.
No, each participant may only work on one project and is only eligible for one stipend.
That’s fine, a little duplication is par for the course in open source. The Palisados Foundation administrators will have the final say in which project becomes the final solution.
While we greatly appreciate the value of documentation, this program is an exercise in developing code; we can’t accept proposals for documentation-only work at this time.
Yes. You must be at least 18 years of age when you register to participate in Calico.
You can read more about accreditation for universities in Jamaica or you can ask yourself the following questions about your institution:
AND
Please note that participating in online courses, even if they are with accredited universities, does not alone constitute enrollment. You must be/will be a matriculated student at the university.
Palisadoes employees, interns, contractors, or family members thereof.
Palisadoes employees, interns, contractors, or family members thereof.
I have been accepted into an accredited post-secondary school program, but have not yet begun attending. Can I still take part in the program?
As long as you are accepted into or enrolled in a college or university program as of the Calico enrollment date, you are eligible to participate in the program. Students will be asked by Palisadoes to provide proof of enrollment during registration.
As long as you are accepted into or enrolled in a college or university program as of the Calico enrollment date, you are eligible to participate in the program. Students will be asked by Palisadoes to provide proof of enrollment during registration.
Yes, provided you meet all other eligibility requirements, you are welcome and encouraged to apply for this year’s instance of the program. You might also want to consider becoming a mentor instead.
No. We’ve given this question a lot of thought, and we’ve decided it is best not to allow participants to act as a mentor to another Calico student while they are working on their own Calico student project.
We want to make sure that each project and student receives sufficient attention, and we’re concerned that this split in focus could create a bad experience for those involved. Please choose whether participation as a mentor or a student is more appealing to you and plan to apply accordingly.
The amount of time you will need depends on both the scope of your project and our requirements. While we may offer some flexibility around milestone completion dates, you should expect your project to be your primary focus during the summer. If you have a great internship starting soon or you’re planning a month long backpacking trip, you likely won’t be a good candidate for the program.
If you’re interested in contributing to a particular open source project, there’s no need to wait for Calico to start; start talking in the project’s Slack channel, subscribe to our development mailing lists, take a look through the bug tracker and submit a patch. If you see something that you think would make a particularly good project for Calico, why not suggest it to us?
Yes. Whether or not the project uses the produced code does not impact the student stipend, only passing evaluations do.
No. This is an activity that the student performs as a student developer for which he/she is paid a stipend.
No. We welcome you to volunteer whenever you like, but participating in Calico means you must accept the stipend.
Each student must license all Calico code under an Open Source Initiative approved license of the the Palisadoes Foundation’s repository.
Only the license applied to repository will be applicable.
Talk with potential mentors about this and other technical style questions. Of course, the Python people will prefer Python submissions, and so on. Students should let the us know in their proposals what languages they’re thinking about using.
All development occurs online; there is no requirement to travel as part of the program. Palisadoes makes no provisions for office space or travel to mentoring locations. Any such travel is undertaken outside the scope of the program.
All code development must happen in the open and all code must be made available publicly. Students may mirror development on their personal infrastructure if they wish. Students must also provide a copy of their code to Palisadoes to be publicly hosted by us.
Palisadoes will provide a total stipend of 3,000 USD per accepted student developer.
The aim is that mentors will receive a contribution in future years as acceptance grows.
Absolutely. If you need documentation from Palisadoes to provide to your school so you can obtain course credit, we can provide it to you. We will not provide documentation to you until we have received a positive final evaluation from your mentor.
Not really. It is a common occurrence. Some contributors run their own consultancies, others tinker for some cash on the side, others work for large companies.
We will need the following documentation from all students:
We will need the following documentation only from students accepted into the program:
Your application form will ask you to propose an idea for the project. Here is a list of ideas that need to be completed. Feel free to consider these or create your own.
Many of the projects may use applications and concepts with which you are not familiar. Please check The Palisadoes Foundation YouTube channel for helpful foundation tutorials provided by each project.
| Project | Description | GitHub Repository |
|---|---|---|
| Talawa | Talawa is a suite of applications designed to manage the member operations of community organizations. It consists of:
Please visit the Talawa documentation website for more details. |
Talawa on GitHub Talawa-Admin on GitHub Talawa-API on GitHub |
| Switchmap | Switchmap is a suite of applications that map the topology of information technology networks Please visit the Switchmap documentation website for more details. |
Switchmap on GitHub |
| Pattoo | Pattoo is a suite of ETL applications that store time series data with various visualization features. Please visit the Pattoo documentation website for more details. |
Pattoo on GitHub |
We usually have two volunteers each year who provide help to us. Most of the activities are concentrated in the spring and summer months.
The responsibilities include:
This is a great opportunity for students to get involved and understand how an international non-profit operates. Successful volunteers are always in demand by our sponsors.
We will need the following documentation from all students:
We will need the following documentation only from students accepted into the program: