Over the years, Joomla has participated a number of times in Google Summer of Code, an initiative that empowers students to learn a lot about software development by contributing to open source projects. GSoC has shown us more than once how valuable students can be for Joomla. So what would be more logical than creating our own breeding ground? JCM interviews Philip Walton, the man with the plan. Read all about the brand new Joomla Academy!

Thanks for joining us in this interview, Philip! When did the idea of having our own Academy first come up? Why?

It came to me when I was working as the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) coordinator. Some things about GSoC frustrated me and I just thought having our own “system” would be better but back then I had no idea how it would work or that it would be called the Joomla Academy.

What happened then?

Well, nothing happened, for a while. Then Joomla didn't get a GSoC place.
Going for GSoC is a lot of work: form filling, finding mentors, dealing with over-eager students who jump the gun… and then out of the blue “Google says no” and you are left with all this work wasted and people almost begging for us to do something.
It was then that I pitched the initial idea. But that morphed over the years. 

What is the Joomla Academy?

The Joomla Academy is an Open Source Matters (OSM) initiative that provides funding via sponsors to educate students to code through the generous help of mentors, focusing on projects that will enhance the Joomla core.

Who is the Joomla Academy for?

Students who wish to work on core Joomla projects. We are not limiting age as long as over 18 at registration and from a non-US embargoed country.
Ideally, they would be studying computer science but there is no restriction as long as they will have the time to do a few months of familiarisation and the 6 months of work.

What’s in it for the students?

Mentorship, $3000 and the chance to feature in many publications. Getting a Joomla core project into the next release after they start.
That is a huge boost to anyone's CV and potentially worth much more than it costs.

How can Joomla benefit from the Academy?

Apart from the students directly contributing to Joomla, you mean? 
The academy process will require us to document and make videos for a lot of Jooma processes. This will be of huge benefit to everyone wanting to help develop Joomla.
We also find that the mentors are so generous with their time and knowledge and that the features produced are very valuable to the future of Joomla, but more than this, it's our chance to welcome new people into Joomla and grow the community with a young and vibrant intake.

How is the Academy organised?

It's organised through OSM and there is a team who are working to get documentation, videos and mentors together. It's still early days but once the Joomla 5.2 release is out of the way there will be a big push to raise a little more cash and get teams of mentors in place. Then we will work out the project for inclusion, document them and advertise the places.

We don’t have a lot of volunteers, how can we make sure we can keep this going?

I hope we can make it a virtuous circle. It will need a few years of pump-priming but by focusing on an alumni group right from the start, and by eliminating the stop-start nature that was GSoC we should produce past students who can join in a mentor capacity and help the next students, giving back to what they themselves were given.

Does this mean we won’t apply for Google Summer of Code in the future?

Certainly not, but it will mean that we won't be wasting the time and effort put into such applications and we won’t rely on GSoC for essential core improvements and features. We will pick projects that would have been more distant Joomla Academy projects and if they get in then great, but if not they will then be for the academy.

What will be the next steps?

I've just contacted the people who have pledged so far. Next is publicity and articles like this one to get the news out and get people excited about the project. We need mentors. They can be members of the community, people with coding skills but also people who have people skills. We learnt from GSoC that a good mix of mentors in each team is what we need. People who are great at code, people who can document and help with writing and people who can look in on the team and make sure that it's all going to plan and if it's not take action.

How can we help make this happen?

It would be great if people reading this could get behind organising, sponsoring or mentoring and also send out the message that we will be open for students to join around the new year.

You can join us on Mattermost. Once you're settled in, find these channel(s):

Joomla Academy Sponsors: 
https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/ja-sponsors 

Joomla Academy Mentors:
https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/ja-mentors 

Joomla Academy Students:
https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/ja-students 

Joomla Academy Organising: 
https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/ja-organising 

It is down to the readers of this to help make a difference in the lives of students and the core of Joomla, something we should all be able to get behind.