We are happy to announce that UW will be participating in the Facebook Open Academy (a.k.a. Hacking For Credit) in Winter/Spring 2014. This class presents a unique opportunity for students interested in a job in industry to gain experience. Facebook has hand-picked important open source projects to which students will contribute, and it has chosen select engineers who will act as mentors to guide the students through the open source development process. We expect that students will learn a lot in this class and thus encourage any interested students to sign up. In particular, prior experience contributing to open source software is NOT required.
In this course, students will work together as part of distributed teams of 4–15 students from all participating universities. Teams will be matched with open source projects according to student rankings and preferences. (The list of candidate projects is available on the Open Academy Facebook group, here.) Students will meet weekly with their open source mentors, and teams will operate using industry-standard development practices and procedures. For example, code contributions from students will be reviewed by their mentors / each other / other project members.
Instructor: Daniel Halperin. Email: dhalperi@cs.washington.edu
Course Number: CSE495, Winter/Spring 2014
Our goal is that students who take this course will:
The instructor will assign student grades in Spring 2014 after discussion with the open source mentor. Although the mentor will make a recommendation, the instructor will have the final say in grading. Grade recommendations are likely to reflect factors including how well the student worked as part of a team, faithfully applied themself to the project, and adopted project practices. Teams will meet periodically (weekly or biweekly) with their open source mentor and, separately, with the instructor to receive and offer feedback. This class is intended to offer all students the opportunity to excel — e.g., grades will not be curved.
Developing quality code for open source projects requires familiarity with computer system design, algorithms, and efficiency. As a result, we ask that applicants have completed or be currently enrolled in CSE351 and CSE332. Additionally, CSE331 is considered a plus but is not required.
CSE495 will be a 3-credit graded course. As Facebook's program is timed for a spring semester, we will split these three credits evenly across Winter and Spring quarters in 2014. Though teams will ramp up in January and ramp down in May, the majority of course work will likely take place between the main kickoff meeting (February 7th) and the virtual product showcase (late March/April). As grades will not be assigned until completion of the program in the Spring, a grade of 'N' (in progress) will be assigned temporarily in the Winter. The undergraduate advisors assure us that this grade will not affect students' academic record.
The instructor will assign student grades in Spring 2014 after discussion with the open source mentor. Although the mentor will make a recommendation, the instructor will have the final say in grading.
| November 20th | List of projects published |
| December 9th | List of students and their preferences sent to Facebook |
| Late December | Students assigned to projects and introduced to mentors |
| Late December/Early January | Students receive a 1–2 page "how to prepare to work on this project" document |
| January | Students begin formal work |
| February 7th–9th | Kickoff event at Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, California |
| End of Winter quarter | Students receive a temporary grade of 'N' (in progress) |
| March/April | Virtual project showcase |
| End of Spring quarter | Grades submitted |
This course is open to undergraduate students who meet the prerequisites.
Students must be enrolled in CSE495 at UW for both Winter and Spring quarters, 2014.
Students must be available to travel to Facebook Headquarters during February 7th–9th, 2014. (This trip will be sponsored by Facebook, so no financial commitment from the student is required.)
CSE495 is a graded, three-credit course. We will expect a minimum of approximately 12 hours per week of work from each student on their project during the main project period, including design, learning practices, programming, code review, meetings, and other course commitments. (Of course, we expect and hope that students will be so happily engaged this expectation will be trivial to meet.)
As the goal of this course is to contribute meaningfully to an important open source project, we expect students to learn and adhere to the standards and practices of the project and as suggested by their mentor.
Students interested in participating in this course, please fill out the following Catalyst survey. Unfortunately, we only have room in CSE495 for up to 9 students. Priority will be given to students based on factors including relevant experience, opportunity for personal growth, and course records. That said, we encourage everyone interested to apply (it's a very short survey!). In particular, note that prior experience contributing to open source projects is NOT necessarily required.
If you have applied but not yet heard from us, please be patient. We expect to send notification emails by December 6th. (Note: one day later to give students a chance to respond to my last-minute questions. Thanks!)
I am a special case because... Should I apply?
Sure, why not? Please also explain your special case in Question 7.
I applied but have not received a response.
Please be patient. We expect to send notification emails by December 5th.
"CSE495 will be a 3-credit graded course. As Facebook's program is timed for a spring semester, we will split these three credits evenly across Winter and Spring quarters in 2014." Does this mean that the course is 3 credits for each quarter, or three credits split up into two quarters?
As you might expect from the word "split", you should think of this as 1.5 credits across both semesters. For practical reasons, we will assign 2 credits in Winter and 1 in Spring.
Have a question not answered here? Please email the instructor at dhalperi@cs.washington.edu.