This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Ananya
If some had told me in my first year of university that I would be writing this post, I wouldn't have believed.
Today, I finally achieved a dream I have held onto for years: I’ve officially cracked Google Summer of Code 2026! with OWASP Foundation under OWASP BLT✨ It might seem like just another program to some, but for me, this is a dream coming true-a journey of collecting broken pieces, holding them together, and building something completely new.
🍂 The Beginning
Coming from a computer science background in high school to an unexpected core engineering major in university was a drastic shift. My first year was spent just trying to heal my lost confidence and survive the transition. I heard about GSoC back then, but since I wasn't involved in the tech community, it felt like a distant, impossible mountain.
The real struggle hit in my second year. The syllabus was exhausting. By the time my second year rolled around, I started peeking outside my core curriculum. I heard whispers of hackathons, open-source contributions, and got more involved in exploring this "famous" program called GSoC. I made my first attempt at GSoC by looking into organizations. I failed. I didn't have the knowledge of any tech stack, Git, or the skills to write those hundreds of lines of codes.
☕ The Turning Point
That failure was my wake-up call. During the summer break, I made a choice. I grounded myself, cut out the outside world, and sat at my desk for three months straight. I began participating in hackathons, doing LeetCode, and my open-source journey truly took off with GirlScript Summer of Code (GSSoC) 2025. That experience gave me the momentum and belief I needed to aim higher.
💻 The GSoC Grind
In October, I changed my strategy, dug through past archives, and found an organization that perfectly matched my new skills: OWASP BLT.
The struggle didn't end there. For the first few months, I had to work incredibly hard just to understand how a single line of code contributed to the final service on their homepage. But I stayed consistent. I opened my first PR, fixed bugs, and slowly became a constant contributor from October all the way through March, balancing my contributions with my core curriculum.
🤍 The Gratitude
This win is not mine alone. It belongs to the incredible people who believed in me:
To my Father and Mother: You are my strength. Your faith in me when I had none is why I am here.
My Circle: To the few friends who stood by me and fueled this journey.
I met incredible people in this organization. To our Lead Project Maintainer, Donnie: Thank you. Every single step I have taken in this organization was only possible because of your support. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have reached this level of excellence.
I am endlessly humbled and grateful to every energy out there that helped make this dream a reality.
Here is to new beginnings. 🥂
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Ananya
Ananya | Sciencx (2026-04-30T18:17:01+00:00) Accepted into GSoC 2026: From First PR to Official Selection. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2026/04/30/accepted-into-gsoc-2026-from-first-pr-to-official-selection/
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