Glossary
The CodeDay Labs program has lots of moving parts and involves many different kinds of stakeholders. To make it easier to understand, we’ve put together this list defining some common terms (and their meanings) that you might hear when talking to CodeDay Staff.
Table of contents
Program Structure
CodeDay
The non-profit behind the CodeDay Labs program.
CodeDay used to be called Student Research and Development (SRND), so you might see that name instead on some legal and financial documents.
CodeDay Labs
Formally, “the CodeDay Labs program;” informally, “Labs”
CodeDay’s online open source internship program, helping undergraduates at overlooked, non-target schools get meaningful, industry relevant work experience through making their first contributions to open source.
Individual instances of the CodeDay Labs program are referred to as “cohorts.”
CodeDay Labs Cohort
Informally, “Labs Cohort” or “Cohort”
An individual instance of the CodeDay Labs program (e.g., SOSE 2025).
Microinternship
A 4-week version of the CodeDay Labs program that’s usually run in collaboration with our partner schools and thus not open to the general public.
Currently, Microinternships happen (almost) every month of the academic year.
Assigned issues are typically smaller in scope than the ones provided in Summer Open Source Experiences.
Summer Open Source Experience
Commonly abbreviated as “SOSE”
An 8-week version of the CodeDay Labs program that’s open to the general public.
Summer Open Source Experience builds on the skills that program participants learn in our Microinternships, but participating in one is not required as a prerequisite.
Assigned issues are typically larger in scope, but it’s not uncommon for Interns to resolve two or more Issues during the program.
Onboarding Week
The first week of every program, during which Interns receive training on specific technologies that are relevant to their Assigned Issue. You can view the Onboarding Week assignments that your Interns were given in your CodeDay Labs Mentor Dashboard .
No mentoring is expected to take place during Onboarding Week. However, the first Mentor Meeting typically gets scheduled at this time.
Issue
Any issue on an open source project’s bug/feature tracker.
Assigned Issue
An Issue from one of our partner projects selected for your Interns by the Open Source Partnerships Team. Every Cohort Team is given an Assigned Issue at the start of their Cohort.
Program Participants
Industry Mentor
Informally, “Mentor”
A person who guides Interns as they tackle their Assigned Issue by giving those Interns high level guidance and walking them through common problem solving techniques.
Intern
Formally, “CodeDay Labs Intern”
A person participating in the CodeDay Labs program.
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The decision to refer to participants as “Intern” and not “Student” is an intentional one, so we request you do the same in your communications.
Team
When disambiguating, “Cohort Team”
A group of (typically 3) Interns under guidance of an Industry Mentor.
Program Staff
CodeDay Point of Contact
Sometimes: “mentor manager”
Your CodeDay Point of contact is a dedicated member of CodeDay staff who has been assigned to regularly check in with you, answer any questions, etc. You can check your CodeDay Point of Contact at any time in your CodeDay Labs Mentor Dashboard. We try to assign you the same point of contact from cohort to cohort, but that’s not always possible.
You can talk to any member of CodeDay Staff, even if they aren’t your assigned point of contact. However, your point of contact will be the most up-to-date on context, and likely have the fastest response times.
Open Source Partnerships Team
Builds relationships with open source projects, scouts Issues, and hand-picks Assigned Issues for Cohort Teams.
Consulting Software Engineer
Commonly abbreviated as “CSE”
Consulting Software Engineers are a resource available to Interns to help with the more specific challenges they encounter throughout the CodeDay Labs program, and are analogous to TAs in a classroom. A core principle of the CSE team is to “Prioritize education over answers.”
Interns can schedule a CSE meeting at any time (even after their cohort has ended) by clicking the “Book Coding Help Meeting” in their dashboard.
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The decision to refer to CSEs as “Consulting Software Engineer” and not “TA” is an intentional one, so we request you do the same in your communications.