Are you a college student looking for a cool summer job? Would you like a job that will put Google on your resume? Or would you prefer a job where you can work in the comfort of your own home while sipping coffee and ordering pizza? How about a job where you can make a big impact in a short period of time? What about a job where you can do all of the above?

First let's get the hurdles out of the way. In order to qualify for these ubercool jobs you must be at least 18 and enrolled in an accredited institution on April 14, 2008. The other big qualifying criteria is that you must be eligible to work in the country where you're planning to do the work. That's it. Pretty much every college student whether newly-admitted, part-timers or fresh graduates qualify for the program. And the best part is you get to help make cool software even cooler. What if you're not the world's foremost PHP expert? Afraid you don't qualify because you haven't recompiled the kernel a dozen times between algorithms class and project management? Don't be. You don't have to be an uber-coder. Sure it helps to have a sense of PHP and how web applications work, but if you have a strong desire and any background with logic you can pick these skills quickly enough to get started.

OK so there must be a catch? Well there is and here it is. The work is addictive. You'll have the opportunity to work with a global community on an awesome project. That community, however, is infectious. If you haven't yet experienced it you wouldn't believe what it is like to work with and be a part of it. It will spoil you. It will draw you in and you won't want to leave. Hereafter you'll look from company to company and not find such a community to work with. The best part of the job, however, is that you don't have to let it end. In addition to many great companies that would gladly hire a successful student after a Summer of Code there are virtually endless opportunities for enterprising folks to freelance or collaborate.

So how to land this great gig? That part too is pretty easy for somebody who puts their minds to it Summer of Code applications will be accepted by Google from March 24 - March 31. The leg-work, however, should start now. First visit the Google Summer of Code 2008 page on the Drupal website. From there head over to the Drupal Google Summer of Code 2008 group and look through the ideas, add your own, and start to work out which project you might want to apply for.