GSoC 2026 Introduction | Aashir Aslam

Jobs & theses market GSoC
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Hello @fsimonis , @Makis and the preCICE community,

My name is Muhammad Aashir Aslam. I am a sophomore Software Engineering student, and I am highly interested in the Website Modernization project.

I have been exploring the preCICE ecosystem and contributing by identifying and fixing issues in the website.

Contributions So Far

  • #818 & #773: Identified and corrected an issue in the search indexing workflow.
  • #813: Fixed a GitHub workflow that had been silently skipping execution for around 1.5 years, helping resolve the indexing failure related to issue #388.
  • #797: Fixed missing focus outline in Firefox and Chromium.
  • #776: Fixed a broken markdown link on the Open Projects page.
  • #798: Fixed multiple structural HTML issues including missing tags, duplicate elements, and stray closing tags across the landing page and layouts. (Resolved issue #772).

Entry Test Work

Since the project involves migrating from Jekyll to Hugo, I recreated the landing page using Hugo and the latest Bootstrap version.

I also implemented:

  • A dark theme toggle using CSS custom properties with localStorage persistence.
  • A contributors footer powered by the GitHub API.

Live demo: https://precicelandingpage.netlify.app/

(Note: This demo currently includes only the landing page. The goal was to replicate the structure while modernizing the implementation.)

Motivation

I believe open source is the best way to apply knowledge in a real, collaborative environment. GSoC is the perfect opportunity for me to contribute meaningfully while learning under mentorship.

Why This Project?

Coming from a strong web development background, the Jekyll to Hugo migration strongly interests me.

I understand the need for modern features such as a proper dark theme, dynamic contributor visibility, and improved search support. Moving away from fragile Jekyll plugins toward a more maintainable Hugo setup is an important step forward.

This project focuses on long-term maintainability and modern UX improvements, which aligns well with my skills.

Relevant Experience

  • Languages & Foundations: Strong foundation in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++, and Python.
  • Web Frameworks: Experience with MERN stack projects, Bootstrap, Tailwind, React and Next.js.
  • Practical Experience: I have participated in hackathons and built production-style web applications.

Git & Collaboration

I regularly work with Git using branch-based workflows, pull requests, and review-driven iteration, and I am very comfortable collaborating asynchronously.

I am excited about the possibility of contributing to this modernization effort and learning through collaboration with the preCICE community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

2 Likes
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Hey @Makis,

Hope you are doing well. I just wanted to ask about the proposal process. Do you have any template or specific writing style in mind for the proposals (as some organizations do for GSoC)?

Usually, proposals are around ~30 pages long, but they are highly tailored and coherent to the specific project being applied for.

Also, I wanted to ask what the next step in the process will be. Will the maintainers reach out to contributors as described on the contributors page, or should we contact mentors directly to share our GSoC proposal drafts for feedback?

Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

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1 Like
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I still need to look at everything, but I just stumbled upon this: definitely not 30 pages per proposal, please! We don’t have a template at the moment, but anything more than two pages would be rather inaccessible.

Note that humans will read the proposals. The text must be original.

5 Likes
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Hi @Makis,

Sorry to bother you. I have a couple of questions while drafting my GSoC proposal:

  1. My most technical PR is actually the result of three linked PRs of identifying and solving Algolia indexing and the large record size issue. Should I present them as a single PR for the proposal?
  2. For the line “Which tools did you use for these PRs, and how much time approximately did you need?” does “tools” refer to AI/code assistants specifically or general development tools as well?

Thanks for your help!

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Just choose one, we will find the rest.

I would be interested in both, but this is mainly your AI tools disclaimer. As you know, there is a lot of discussion in the field on how to deal with AI in coding, and we just want to know what people use in practice. If we are to work together later, we would anyway need to know.

1 Like