I participated in Google Summer of Code last year and had an amazing experience. I was able to work on an awesome project (ML for replacing heuristics in LLVM)

I participated in Google Summer of Code last year and had an amazing experience. I was able to work on an awesome project (ML for replacing heuristics in LLVM), met a ton of amazing people that I otherwise wouldn't have come across, and gained a ton of SE experience, all while getting paid for it (something that might not have been an option outside of GSoC for someone fresh out of high school). I now have an internship lined up for the summer due to the connections that I made and am working in a pretty exciting area of research. GSoC might have completely changed what I'll be doing in the future and definitely was an amazing opportunity. I'm signed up as a mentor this year, so hopefully I can help provide some of that experience to someone else.