Train future open source leaders

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Investing in new talent and diversity helps the entire open source community thrive

Mentorship makes it easy to sponsor and help train the next generation of open source developers by serving key needs of the community, including…

We want to grow our project, but...
Struggle to attract new contributors from the community
New contributors tend to drop off quickly
So we need to give them better reasons to stay engaged
It’s too costly for us to run a mentorship program
Because we don’t have the resources needed to train mentees
We want our community to be more diverse
We don’t know how to attract more under-represented groups

Linux Foundation Mentorship Programs and Expanded Mentorship Program in Response to COVID-19

The Linux Foundation’s Mentorship Programs are designed to help developers with the necessary skills–many of whom are first-time open source contributors–experiment, learn, and contribute effectively to open source communities. More than 190 mentees have been accepted since the programs started in 2019, participating in 96 mentorship programs.

In addition to these programs, the Linux Foundation continues support for diversity and inclusion with expanded mentorship program co-sponsored by Intel in response to COVID-19.

Learn More About Mentorship

The Linux Foundation continues support for diversity and inclusion with expanded mentorship program sponsored by Intel in response to COVID-19

The Linux Foundation has invested over $2.5M in support of first-time and underrepresented open source contributors. This has funded mentorship programs, sponsored diversity and inclusion initiatives and scholarships, and enabled aspiring developers from diverse backgrounds to attend events around the world.

This program is designed to help developers with the necessary skills—many of whom are first-time open source contributors—experiment, learn, and contribute effectively to open source communities.

Thank you Intel for your generous donation of $250,000 to support this program.

Learn More

Project-based Mentorship programs let you give back to the community

Attract more project contributors

Find talented new contributors to help grow your project by hosting a mentorship program. Get access to the resources you need to build and manage a successful program through the Mentorship platform.

Launch a Mentorship Program

Invest in talent development

Expand your recruitment efforts by building a more diverse and talented open source community. By sponsoring mentorship programs you’re creating a pool of highly skilled potential candidates.

Sponsor a Mentorship Program

Give back to the community

Build relationships, grow your expertise, and help others by becoming a mentor. The Mentorship platform provides you with the resources you need.

Become a Mentor

Grow your career

Dive right into the open source community and learn from top project maintainers. Build your expertise with hands-on experience and free access to premium Linux Foundation trainings.

Apply as a Mentee

Grow the open source community by participating in Mentorship programs

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Required Skills

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Explore Mentorship Programs

“Coccinelle has really benefitted from the interns we have hired via Mentorship. We really appreciate the opportunity to make contact with great interns for these projects.”

Julia LawallSenior Research Scientist, Inria & Linux Kernel Developer

“The LFX Mentorship program is well-organized and provides a robust set of tools for creating a mentorship program, screening candidates, and conducting the whole process virtually. Speaking personally, I had never created or run a mentorship program before. The Linux Foundation’s Mentorship staff had plenty of materials available to teach me everything I needed to know. What I really like about the program is that both the Linux Foundation and Intel have seeded the mentorship program with sufficient funds to provide the mentees with a generous stipend. This makes all the difference in the world to those who would like to learn from active open source projects, but typically need to forgo mentorship programs due to living expenses.”

Joe PearsonTechnology Strategist, IBM Cloud

“At the start of the LFX Mentoring program, we were a bit overwhelmed with a larger number of proposals, most of which were high quality. The most difficult part was selecting the best proposals and students to move forward with since we had a limited number of mentors. The web based platform supported the selection, communication and management of the mentoring program. The best part was the excellent support from the LFX team – they were always responsive when we had questions.”

Gary O’NeallSPDX Technical Team Co-Lead

Features

Mentorship Dashboards

View mentorship details including mentor and mentee participants, project terms, and supporting organizations.

Free Resources and Training

Neutral non-profit (LF) provides documentation, program guides, financial support, and support for international students.

Candidate Matching

Opportunities are recommended to applicants based on how well their skills match the project needs.

Crowdfunding Integration

Launch crowdfunding campaigns to generate funding for stipends and other perks for your mentees.

Performance Evaluation

Track progress of your mentorship and review mentee progress through a robust task management system.

Program Certification

Mentees receive a certificate upon successful completion of their mentorship program.