Why are Internships So Important?

From the start, the Palisadoes Foundation has promoted equitable access to life opportunities for STEM education recipients. We provide open-source internships for underserved students studying software engineering.

We know internships play a vital role in bridging the gap between learning and real-world experience—especially for students from underserved communities. Through mentorship, exposure to collaborative open-source projects, and hands-on professional development, interns gain the tools to grow from talented coders into globally competitive developers.

At Palisadoes, we’re passionate about creating opportunities that empower our interns.

Features of Talawa’s Admin Portal

Our GSoC interns are working hard this summer on improvements to the Talawa app and Admin Portal. This community management app utilizes a browser-based portal to give administrators the best experience managing their organizations.

It empowers organizations to:

  • Manage memberships and approvals seamlessly
  • Oversee events and venues
  • Track posts, action items, and volunteer engagement
  • Supports donations and donation management
  • Maintain a secure and transparent community space

This dashboard provides administrators with the tools they need to focus on what matters most—driving meaningful impact. Check back for more updates about this open-source project!

Noble Mittal and Palisadoes

“Before getting into Google Summer of Code 2023, I began my journey with the Palisadoes Foundation by contributing to the Talawa API.
That early exposure gave me a strong foundation and directly led to my selection as a GSoC contributor. It was a game-changer.

During the program, I helped build the Talawa User Portal—bringing features previously only on mobile to the web, and making the platform more accessible. It was my first time working with GraphQL, and thanks to my mentors, I got through the learning curve and came out stronger.

One moment that stood out for me was a mid-program review where a mentor’s feedback made me realize how far I had come in just a few weeks. That boost in confidence stayed with me and since then, my resume has grown, my skills have leveled up, and I’ve landed real-world opportunities in tech. Palisadoes even featured my work on YouTube, which was an incredibly proud moment.

It’s amazing to look back and see how far Talawa has grown, powered by passionate contributors. And to think it all started with a single open-source contribution.

Grateful to the Palisadoes Foundation for being part of my journey. If you’re thinking about open source—this could be your launchpad too.”
– Noble Mittal (EI at PlanetScale)

Thinking about Volunteering? Join us!

Volunteering with the Palisadoes Foundation is fun, flexible, and fulfilling work. We are looking for people who want to make a difference. You don’t need tech skills to lend us a helping hand, we have all types of rewarding work to do, and we would love to have your help! Email info@palisadoes.org for more information!

Eva Sharma and Palisadoes

The Palisadoes Foundation was an incredibly impactful first step in my tech career. I started as a mentee in Google Season of Docs, 2022 and later became a mentor in Google Summer of Code, 2023. I gained invaluable experience working within a team, learning the importance of both asking for and offering help. This experience profoundly shaped my understanding of work environments, corporate culture, and management, setting a high bar for what a positive workplace should be.
What truly set Palisadoes apart was its exceptional community and work culture, largely fostered by Peter, the founder. I felt a unique sense of freedom to openly share my thoughts, both positive and negative, without hesitation. Peter’s appreciation for diverse perspectives created an environment where everyone felt valued and empowered to contribute. This foundation provided an ideal first working experience, ultimately solidifying my decision to pursue a career as a software engineer in a leading tech company.

– Eva Sharma, Google Software Engineer

Announcing our GSoC 2025 Contributors!

Congratulations to our 2025 Google Summer of Code contributors! We are ready to improve Talawa and get it ready for action! We look forward to a summer full of coding with you.

Switchmap-NG Architecture – 2025

In this video we discuss the design of our Switchmap-NG application, including the various processes that run to process and visualize data.

Mentor Forums – First Meeting

We had our very first Mentor Forum designed to create a closer coding community to aid our projects’ missions. Here is the video of the session.

Palisadoes Selected for GSoC 2025

The Palisadoes Foundation announces its acceptance into the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) as a mentoring organization. Palisadoes has been participating since 2021.

Established in 2005, the Google Summer of Code offers developers from around the world stipends to write code for various Open Source software projects. GSoC will run for nine months this year. The aim is to attract new contributors to be regular Open Source contributors

“From Summer to Autumn, many new contributors to our Talawa projects will benefit from this program. GSoC participants this year will include not only students but also industry professionals. This is an exceptional Google sponsored activity,” said Peter Harrison, President of the Palisadoes Foundation. “The program helps us to not only get some great code written, but also to introduce developers into Open Source development and hopefully recruit some new long-term Committers.”

Participants are encouraged to discuss ideas with mentoring organizations and finalize proposals for projects by the April 2 deadline. Palisadoes mentors have proposed numerous ideas for Talawa projects in mobile development, web applications, and practical API concepts. Participants may choose from the Talawa “Ideas Page” or suggest their own project for approval. The Talawa software repositories can be found on our organization’s GitHub page. The GSoC website has a complete timeline that you can review. Participants can learn more about our projects on the Talawa GSoC FAQ page.

“GSoC gives students the chance to work on industry-leading Open Source projects, collaborate with diverse communities, and gain real world experience related to their academic pursuits,” added Harrison. “We are proud to have mentored so many talented students over the years, and furthered our mission of providing software products for the public good. It’s a rewarding experience both for the students and the Talawa community at-large.”

Since 2016, The Palisadoes Foundation has actively participated in furthering the education of software engineering students through its various programs. The Calico Challenge, modeled on GSoC, has mentored over 30 Jamaicans attending local universities. Like GSoC, students received stipends upon achieving predefined goals when contributing to the Foundation’s GitHub projects.

“This second GSoC success would not have happened without the faith our Jamaican corporate sponsors had in our Calico vision. Their support since 2016 in terms of time, people and financing has been invaluable, ” Harrison explained, “The GSoC acceptance is a clear vote of faith from arguably the world’s largest software company. This is a huge global endorsement of Jamaican software development skills”

Details on the Google Summer of Code is available at: https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/

About the Palisadoes Foundation

The California based Palisadoes Foundation aims to provide new avenues to promote Jamaica’s technology businesses and talent using a series of programs aimed at creating increased awareness of the island’s abilities in the global marketplace.