The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) offers several mentorship programs to help new contributors gain experience with cloud native projects and support maintainers in growing their communities. The main programs include:
- LFX Mentorship: The flagship program, running multiple terms per year, where mentees work on real CNCF projects (such as Kubernetes, Jaeger, Prometheus, Meshery, KubeEdge, Litmus, KubeArmor, and more) under the guidance of experienced mentors. Mentees contribute to code, documentation, testing, and other areas, and receive a stipend. Approximately 40–60% of mentees continue contributing after their term, with some becoming maintainers. Learn more and see current opportunities
- Google Summer of Code (GSoC): CNCF participates as an umbrella organization for students interested in open source. Details
- Google Season of Docs: For technical writers who want to contribute to CNCF project documentation. Details
- Outreachy: Focused on supporting contributors from underrepresented groups in tech. Details
To participate as a mentee, watch for application periods (for LFX, the next round opens Feb 5–18, 2025, with the program starting Mar 3). To propose a project as a mentor, submit your idea during the project proposal window. All details, timelines, and instructions are available at contribute.cncf.io/about/mentoring/ and mentoring.cncf.io.
The CNCF Mentorship Working Group coordinates these efforts and meets monthly (third Thursday). Anyone interested in shaping mentorship in CNCF can join. Meeting details
For more information, see the CNCF mentoring GitHub repo, or reach out to Nate Waddington, CNCF Head of Mentorship & Documentation. Success stories and mentee experiences are regularly published on the CNCF blog and mentoring site.
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