Applicant Guide | Outreachy Documentation

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What is Outreachy? What is free software and open source? Eligibility Am I experienced enough? Do I have to be a programmer to apply? Do you have the type of project I'm interested in? Outreachy schedule Application period overview Initial application Legal names in Outreachy Preparing for the contribution period Finding a Mentor and an Internship Project Making Contributions Policy on AI generated contributions How are contributions evaluated? Estimated number of interns Final application Intern announcement Internship
Outreachy is a paid, remote internship program. Outreachy's goal is to support people from groups underrepresented in tech. We help newcomers to free software and open source make their first contributions.
Outreachy provides internships to work open source. People apply from all around the world. Interns work remotely, and are not required to move. Interns are paid a stipend of $7,000 USD for the three month internship.
Interns work with experienced mentors from open source communities. Outreachy internship projects may include programming, user experience, documentation, illustration, graphical design, or data science. Interns often find employment after their internship with Outreachy sponsors or in jobs that use the skills they learned during their internship.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is software that gives the user the freedom to use, copy, study, change, and improve it. We encourage you to read an introduction article about open source software.
Open source projects are built collaboratively. Open source contributors work together publicly. Working publicly creates a fun collaborative community around a project. It allows anyone to make innovative changes that reach many people.
Open source contributors work on a lot of different things! You can contribute by developing software. Or you might want to improve user experience by contributing design work. You can help with documentation, community management, marketing, identifying issues and reporting bugs, helping users, event organization, graphic design, and translations.
Sometimes people work on open source in their spare time. Many contributors are employed by companies and non-profit organizations to work on open source. That includes the companies that are sponsoring Outreachy! Experience with open source is highly valuable in the professional world. Your contributions to open source provide a public portfolio for you. Employers can see your history of public collaboration, which will give them confidence when making hiring decisions.
Photo CC BY 2.0 WOCinTech Chat
Outreachy is open to applicants around the world.
We invite anyone from any background who faces under-representation, systemic bias, or discrimination in the technology industry of their country to apply.
Outreachy openly welcomes applicants who are women (both cis and trans), trans men, non-binary people, and genderqueer people to apply.
We also openly welcome applications who are residents and nationals of the United States of America of any gender who are Black/African American, Hispanic/Latin@, Native American/American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.
Past Outreachy interns are:
Statistics are based on responses to the 2019 longitudinal study of Outreachy alums, and they're based on self-identification. There is no list of groups that are eligible or ineligible for Outreachy. Outreachy interns have been from countless backgrounds and identities. Check our alums page to learn more about them.
These eligibility rules apply to the December 2026 Outreachy internship cohort round. Dates may change for future rounds.
Outreachy is open to applicants around the world. You will need to meet the following requirements:
1. General eligibility
3. Current or future internships
4. Rules for people with jobs
5. Rules for people who are not students
6. Rules for students
Outreachy internships run twice a year, May to August and December to March. We have some rules around which internship round you can apply to:
7. Rules for students on visas
Outreachy organizers often get questions from applicants like:
"I'm a second year university student. I have done some projects in X programming language. Am I experienced enough for this internship?"
"I'm learning Y through online courses. But I haven't worked on a big project with those skills. Am I experienced enough for this internship?"
The answer is "You should fill out an initial application, regardless of your experience level."
Outreachy has many different internship projects. Each project will have different skill requirements. It is likely there will be at least one project that fits your skills.
Each project will list the required, preferred, and bonus skills:
When deciding whether to apply to a project, you should focus on looking at the required skills. If you have experience in at least 1 or 2 required skills for a project, you are welcome to apply to it. If you do not have the preferred or bonus skills, it is okay to apply. However, if another applicant has the preferred skills, they may be selected over you.
Applicants show mentors they have the required project skills by completing project tasks during the contribution period. You are more likely to be accepted as an intern if you make high-quality contributions.
No, you do not need to be a programmer to apply to Outreachy. Some Outreachy projects are focused on non-programming work. Those projects may involve design, documentation, user experience, marketing, or event planning.
However, the majority of Outreachy projects will require that you have some programming skills. You will need experience programming to apply for those projects.
Sometimes mentors are willing to teach you a new programming language if you know at least one other programming language. Check the project skills list for an experience level listing of '1 - No knowledge required'.
Some applicants are looking for