# Continuing conversations about fellowships/Internships in open Source Design

**URL:** <https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722>\
**Category:** Design Lounge\
**Created:** [October 7, 2021, 8:18am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722 "2021-10-07T08:18:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/21 "2022-09-20T19:49:06Z")

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Hey folks - casting ‘revive’ on this thread as I managed to have another chat with Sage over at Outreachy.

So I think it’s feasible to do the 1 designer + 1 developer on a project together as an internship if we could fund the designer plus a smaller portion of the developer. This part we can clarify with Outreachy and the projects that are interested in the designer + developer combo.

I want to honor that the community voted that this is what we want to spend our open collective funds on and move us forward if we can to testing this idea. I know that $6k+ is still a significant chunk of our funds but i think that outreachy’s support will overall make a lot of the logistics smoother. I’m also asking/looking into what of my work hours over at Simply Secure could be offered in support of helping co-ordinate this effort that can then be combo’d with my volunteer hours.

I would love to put together a small team of OSS designers here (and others if you wanna spread the word) that can really make this happen to get the proof of concept for design + developer internships in OSS a reality.

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**Author:** ![jdittrich](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/jdittrich/32/42_2.png) [@jdittrich](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/jdittrich)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/22 "2022-09-22T20:24:02Z")

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> [@Erioldoesdesign](#):
>
> So I think it’s feasible to do the 1 designer + 1 developer on a project together as an internship if we could fund the designer plus a smaller portion of the developer.

Did you (or anyone else) try to speak to orgs to get the developer funded from another source than our funds?

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**Author:** ![MarsBarLee](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/marsbarlee/32/2670_2.png) [@MarsBarLee](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/MarsBarLee)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/23 "2022-09-27T23:20:04Z")

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Hi Hadi! If you’re interested in an internship with Quansight (a company focused on open source Python libraries), we currently do not have any design internship available with an open source project. I will update this thread if we do, Quansight’s internship season is usually middle of the year.

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**Author:** ![MarsBarLee](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/marsbarlee/32/2670_2.png) [@MarsBarLee](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/MarsBarLee)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/24 "2022-09-27T23:23:12Z")

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> [@Erioldoesdesign](#):
>
> pen to get the proof of concept for design + developer internships in OSS a reality.

I think this internship discussion was brought up a few OSD community calls ago, in the June OSD call. There was mentions of working on a document about developing these possible internships in more detail, but I haven’t talked about internships since.

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**Author:** ![MarsBarLee](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/marsbarlee/32/2670_2.png) [@MarsBarLee](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/MarsBarLee)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/25 "2022-09-27T23:31:30Z")

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I’ve spoken briefly in the September OSD call about the possibility of funding open source design with grants or companies in the Scientific Python space, such as with the [NumFOCUS Small Development Grant](https://numfocus.org/programs/small-development-grants). NumFOCUS provides funding and support for [Sponsored Projects](https://numfocus.org/sponsored-projects), such as NumPy, SciPy, pandas, etc. In this framework, there are specific projects we could connect to.

I can’t guarantee anything but there is interest, based on my comics, so there’s interest for similar work.

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**Author:** ![jdittrich](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/jdittrich/32/42_2.png) [@jdittrich](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/jdittrich)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/26 "2023-03-14T14:50:59Z")

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Hello, I want to revive this!

I talked to someone about the idea and what they think it would need to make it work in their organization. Here are the main points, and most boil down to having clear ideas and requirements that can shape the internship so it is helpful for interns and org as well as for showing one’s boss/org that it is worthwhile doing.

**Things to clarify**

- Clarify duration, compensation and time-per-week (should/can we model it on outreachy and just take their conditions?)
- Clarify how the intern would be chosen: Selection process and criteria
- Define how the collaboration would looke like: What are things they need to do? What are things that are not important to us.
- In general, make shure that the participant is supported and safe and communicating how we want to ensure this to all involved parties.

**Mode of internship:**

- In this case, getting 3 month of developer time would be hard to do; the participant could be embedded in a design team that works with the orgs developers. I think this is also ok, but the original dev-designer idea was that both intern at the same time. However, that adds additional complexity if the org does not run their own internship program already.

If I read correctly, there was the idea of working with outreachy, correct? (@Erioldoesdesign seemed to know more, could you update me?)

One idea from the convesation was the use some fund money to create the conditions and sync them back to the OSD community (e.g. asking superbloom if we could pay them to do that); I guess that is not an easy or fun volunteer task (In general: We might need to put money in the internship and in the stuff-around-the-internship to make it work well)

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2023, 10:23am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/27 "2023-06-20T10:23:52Z")

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bumping this thread!

Who’s interested in a working group? we had a series of tasks that individuals took on but we should think about not having single point of ‘failures’ for tasks given volunteer nature

🙂

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**Author:** ![iamakshayvinchurkar](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/iamakshayvinchurkar/32/3444_2.png) [@iamakshayvinchurkar](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/iamakshayvinchurkar)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/28 "2023-07-11T05:42:19Z")

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Hey everyone, I am Akshay a Product Designer with a 9 years of experience in Design as well as in Development. I previously contributed in wordpress project as Developer now I want to contribute In Design space. Open for design tasks

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**Author:** ![jdittrich](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/jdittrich/32/42_2.png) [@jdittrich](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/jdittrich)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 10:20am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/29 "2023-07-11T10:20:17Z")

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I would be interested in taking part in a working group.

However, I also think we should at least tentatively consider revising the idea of offering a fellowship – it turned out quite complex and never took off despite our efforts.

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/30 "2023-07-12T14:14:10Z")

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I mean if i’m being very honest I think the reasons it didn’t take off were internal governance reasons and there were some actions some folks didn’t follow up on. I agree maybe the problem was that we ourselves as a group don’t have unpaid capacity to investigate options as throughly as some want to and we’re nervous about spending the bulk of our raised funds (even though they are doing anything sat in our open collective)

I think we as a group were also nervous about the overheads of mentoring the designer that gets placed in a fellowship/internship with an org re. time and capacity - which is why it’d be good to reassess support from designers paid at orgs already to see if they can have their orgs donate their time for mentoring on this.

I agree revising is needed but also I think this points to some critical errr needs? issues? complications? with how as a OSS community collective group we decide to spend money beyond a ‘small’ (small not having a definition here but most likely under $300) on a initiative/work that isn’t an outright ‘purchase’

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**Author:** ![charliemah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/charliemah/32/3164_2.png) [@charliemah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/charliemah)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/31 "2024-03-05T21:57:50Z")

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> [@jdittrich](#):
>
> However, I also think we should at least tentatively consider revising the idea of offering a fellowship – it turned out quite complex and never took off despite our efforts.

Based on guidance from a prominent expert in open source sustainability research, we’re delving into the creation of a novel incentive structure, differing from the Google Summer of Code. In this framework, mentees aren’t compensated individually, but mentors might receive sponsorships from companies. Moreover, exceptional teams could earn appealing rewards akin to those found in renowned hackathons. We’re in search of seasoned UX researchers prepared to join us as volunteer advisors. If anyone here is intrigued by this fresh approach to open-source mentorship, we welcome collaboration in conducting UX research for pilot (cross-functional team) mentorship programs.

Reference

> [@In need of volunteer advisors/contributors for Teamnova's UX/UI design](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/in-need-of-volunteer-advisors-contributors-for-teamnovas-ux-ui-design/3666/7):
>
> Thank you immensely for your unwavering support. Unfortunately, we must extend our sincere apologies as the UX research for this project has encountered unforeseen challenges, leading to several delays in our progress timeline. Despite these obstacles, we remain dedicated to overcoming them and greatly appreciate your continued patience and understanding. Our initial phase of UX research draws inspiration from a critical finding from the Linux Foundation Research study titled ‘Mentorship in Ope…

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**Author:** ![charliemah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/charliemah/32/3164_2.png) [@charliemah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/charliemah)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/32 "2024-03-05T22:12:53Z")

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> [@Erioldoesdesign](#):
>
> I think we as a group were also nervous about the overheads of mentoring the designer that gets placed in a fellowship/internship with an org re. time and capacity - which is why it’d be good to reassess support from designers paid at orgs already to see if they can have their orgs donate their time for mentoring on this.

Strongly agreed. We encountered similar feedback when interviewing certain open source community leaders for our Teamnova project’s UX research.

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**Author:** ![charliemah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/charliemah/32/3164_2.png) [@charliemah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/charliemah)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/33 "2024-03-05T22:31:25Z")

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> [@jdittrich](#):
>
> **Mode of internship:**
> 
> - In this case, getting 3 month of developer time would be hard to do; the participant could be embedded in a design team that works with the orgs developers. I think this is also ok, but the original dev-designer idea was that both intern at the same time. However, that adds additional complexity if the org does not run their own internship program already.

Starting a new open-source mentorship program is not easy. Selecting tasks such as designing and developing free and open source React templates (similar to [9+ Free React Templates - Material&nbsp;UI](https://mui.com/material-ui/getting-started/templates/)) could potentially streamline complexity and enhance the designer-developer collaboration experience.

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/34 "2024-03-07T14:17:20Z")

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Interesting!

I think we (as in Open Source Design as a community) feel very strongly about supporting designers with financial incentives. Designers are rarely paid ‘bounties’ on OSS work or paid to work on OSS like developers may be so we feel like it’s a good example to set to pay the designer equal as the FE dev or Dev we would also sponsor.

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/35 "2024-03-07T14:17:45Z")

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Would be interested to hear more thoughts @charliemah - maybe we can chat on the April community call 🙂

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**Author:** ![charliemah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/charliemah/32/3164_2.png) [@charliemah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/charliemah)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 3:32pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/36 "2024-03-07T15:32:27Z")

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Yes, I also feel very strongly about supporting designers with financial incentives. Additionally, I think fellowships/internships in open source design should be made more accessible.

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**Author:** ![charliemah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/charliemah/32/3164_2.png) [@charliemah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/charliemah)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/continuing-conversations-about-fellowships-internships-in-open-source-design/2722/37 "2024-03-09T15:48:25Z")

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**The Sauce Labs Open Source Fellowship Program** , a six-month initiative that introduces newcomers to **the entire open source project lifecycle from user research to deployment** , can serve as a great source of inspiration.

Reference

> **[Saucelabs Open Source Fellow Program: a diversity and inclusion program](https://community.penpot.app/t/saucelabs-open-source-fellow-program-a-diversity-and-inclusion-program/3124)**
>
> Last month we had a great chat with the fellows at Saucelabs Open Source Program about what it means to build an open source tool like Penpot. It’s not a live stream but we recorded it and can watch the full video below. We talked discussed to...

> **[The New and Improved Elemental Selenium is Here!](https://saucelabs.com/resources/blog/the-new-and-improved-elemental-selenium-is-here)**
>
> Paloma Oliveira discusses the revamp of Elemental Selenium and why you should care.

"Drawing inspiration from programs like Outreachy, we formed a team of fellows [[read all about the Open Source Community Fellowship program here](https://saucelabs.com/resources/topic-hub/open-source-fellowship)] with diverse backgrounds and interests to revitalize Elemental Selenium and explore new directions that an opinionated newsletter in a rapidly changing world could take.

Unlike an internship, a fellowship is a time-based program focused on learning and achieving a specific goal. In this case, the goal was to revitalize Elemental Selenium. This experimental program, uncommon for medium-sized companies like Sauce Labs, invited five aspiring technologists to work on the project for six months and learn about software development from a transdisciplinary perspective.

Working in an open, transparent, and remote manner, their mission was to listen to the subscribers and propose updates to the web app and newsletter that would make room for diverse voices. And they did precisely that. The team, consisting of [Danielle Madry](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-madry/), [Django Skorupa](https://www.linkedin.com/in/django-skorupa-2ab959108/), [Esther Cotton](https://www.linkedin.com/in/esthercotton/), [Janackeh Blackwell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/janackeh/), and [Rajene Harris](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajene/), supported by 23 mentors from Sauce Labs, embraced the challenge of stepping out of their comfort zones and **exploring the different facets that comprise software development: user experience, design, code, quality, content, and community**. As they delved into these areas, they discovered what fascinated them and areas that now they know are not their favorite cup of tea.

On May 25th, as the fellowship drew to a close, they publicly launched the new site, which incorporates several new features based on feedback from over 100 users who participated in surveys and interviews. [You can see the demo here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpST8PYDkKg&t=2s)."

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