It is a national youth program in the field of IT, adopted by Ministry of Transport,Communications& IT (MTCIT), targets Omani youth application developers (IT enthusiasts, professionals, jobseekers) students, to give them an opportunity to work on various projects using Free and Open Source software to develop applications functional in different work environments over a 3 months period. In addition to gaining exposure to real-world software development scenarios, participants walk through intensive training and orientation program in FOSS and entrepreneurship while implementing the assigned projects to them. To identify the market needs, MTCIT coordinates with various government and private organizations to identify list of suggested projects, which participants can work on, and organizations benefit from.

Program Categories:

Participants can choose to work on an idea or a project from the below categories:
Enhance government eServices.
Enhance Civil Society eServices.

Through this program, the MTCIT aims to:

1. promote Innovation culture in Oman by utilizing FOSS technologies as enabler.
2. increase creativity in IT project activities in Oman.
3. enrich local resources IT project learning experience.
4. encourage local resources to seek careers/business in IT projects & particularly in FOSS technologies.
5. enable candidates to carry out innovative projects with limited funding.
6. elucidate the role of ITA in promoting IT innovation in the society.

Candidates:
1. Omanis: undergraduates enrolled in local higher education institute
2. Residents: undergraduates enrolled in local higher education institute
3. Job seekers with IT specialization
4. Employees
5. IT enthusiasts

Mentors:

The MTCIT is also seeking to have some mentors to support in coaching and mentoring the participants. People interested to join should be:

1. working for a higher education institute in Oman or employee in ICT field.
2. with a minimum qualification of Bachelor degree.

Registration: Registration will be through the following online form
Short online test: After the registration period, all candidates are required to take an online short test which will be sent to their email address .
Interviews: All qualified candidates, who passed the online test and met all the criteria, will be invited for a personal interview.
Orientation sessions: All selected participants will take part in the sessions to be briefed about the program.
Participation phases 
 
First Phase: Project Proposals evaluation and submission (Within 2 Weeks to prepare and submit, 2 weeks to evaluate) .
Second Phase Projects: Implementation (first phase) within one month after getting the approval.
Third phase: Initial Technical evaluation .
Fourth phase: Continuation of projects implementation (second phase) after receiving recommendations from the evaluation committee within 1 month.
 
Fifth phase: Final Technical evaluation.
Sixth phase: Selection of best projects & mentors.
Candidates will be selected according to the following criteria:
  • Age must be 18 years old and above.
  • Technical skills.
  • Score  (Online test) & Interview.
Requirements to fulfill proposal submission
  • Project Title.
  • Project Description including Project significance, objectives, the relation between idea/subject and FOSS and how it will be used to implement the project.
  • Market research and market needs: based on statistics and/or study.
  • Finance (budget expected & budget justifications).
  • Challenges (expected challenges and solutions to overcome them).
  • Team (clearly state the experiences & qualifications of the team members).
Mentor information
  • Name.
  • Qualifications & specialization.
  • Contacts details & email.
  • Role of mentor (Involvement of the mentor in the project direction and design).
Oman Summer of Code Proposal Submission Steps
 
Step 1: Group formation: select group members of IT background (between 2-3 members). The team should identify an idea selected from the proposed list of projects by ITA or any idea of their choice within the proposed categories.
Step 2: Select a mentor from the academia, public or private sector in the IT field.
Step 3: Team members should identify a team leader with the approval of their mentor.
Step 4: Each team should write its project proposal, identify each individual member’s  roles, create project timeline, and identify the required  resources. The proposal should clearly state the relation between project subject and FOSS.
Step 5: The team leader of each project should send the proposal to Oman Summer of Code team.
Step 6: The team members & mentor will receive notification mail  from Oman Summer of Code team to confirm if the proposal received and approved or not.
Step 7: The teams with  approved proposals will start implementing their project& will undergo through  technical evaluations in  2 phases.
Step 8: Winners announcement and rewarding.
Required Reports
1. Project proposal (to be submitted After getting acceptance in the program.)
Before starting the project, Each team leader, in collaboration with her/his project team & their mentor, are required to send project proposal as per the template sent from the Evaluation Committee.
2. Progress Report & Presentation
Each team leader, in collaboration with her/his project team & their mentor are required to send a progress report to Evaluation Committee after the completion of the first half of the project duration & schedule time to present project progress.
3. Final Report & Presentation
After the completion of the project, the team should send the final report and schedule time to present their final project implementation.
  • Developed application must be under one of the free software licenses (e.g. GPL, Apache). Check licenses list here
  • All documents must be produced by LiberOffice software.
  • Developed application must run on GNU / Linux environment.

The evaluation criteria are as follows:

  • Intellectual Merit of the Idea/Project/SME question or creative concept. (10 points).
  • The Overall quality of the proposal submitted, providing below details:
  1. Idea & objectives (10 points)
  2. Team (10 points)
  3. Market (10 points)
  4. Finance (10 points)
  5. Challenges (5 points)
  6. Technical Specifications (10 points)

Total (55 points).

  • Applicability and relevance to Oman’s socioeconomic development and related public policies. (15 points).
  • Feasibility to implement the idea/project/SME in short or Mid-term (20 points).
  1. All Oman Summer of Code participants will get free seats to attend FOSS technical training.
  2. Best Winning team members will be sponsored to attend international FOSS conference overseas.
  3. Awarding the promising projects in the closing ceremony of Oman Summer of Code.
  4. Projects passed final evaluation, will be offered 3 months of mentorship and consultation.
  5. An opportunity to establish their own company and join Sas Center for Entrepreneurship enrollment process, to get the following services:
  • Office space.
  • Specialized technical training in the field of Business Administration.
  • Financial loans necessary for the establishment of the company.
  • Consulting in the field of management and entrepreneurship.
Note: Special terms and conditions will be applied to select qualified company to enter Sas Center for Entrepreneurship.

Roles and Responsibilities

Participant/working team

The responsibilities expected from the candidates are:
Form team and select team leader.
Select a mentor
Prepare idea/project/SME proposal.
Implement idea/project after acceptance within agreed period.
Attend follow-up meetings.
Submit required quality assurance reports.

Mentors

Review project proposal with project team before it is submitted to Oman summer of Code team.
Supervise project team and provide guidance.
Facilitate communication with possible project adopters from industry.

MTCIT

Provide mentor-ship for a week in the field of entrepreneurship and ways of working in the Open Source Software technologies.
Propose open source projects that can be implemented by participants.
Provide guidance program for the participants during project implementation period.
Form Evaluation Committee to select best projects.

  • The registration is through link (Click here)
  • To contact Oman Summer of Code Team:

    Telephone no. 24166878 – Email: foss@ita.gov.om