nagpalnitesh/application-guide

Everything you need to know about creating a strong application for the Qiskit Advocates program, all in one place!

Qiskit Advocates Application Guide

What is the Qiskit advocate program?

The Qiskit advocate program is a global initiative to support the most active members of the Qiskit community. As an advocate, you will join the most passionate group of people in quantum computing. Since the program was launched two years ago, more than 200 people with diverse backgrounds from 30+ countries have joined. We work together to grow the Qiskit community through organizing events, making open source contributions to Qiskit code, creating educational content, and more.

Why you should apply:

1. Networking with experts and enthusiasts

As an advocate, you will be able to attend monthly meetup sessions to share projects and ideas and work together with fellow advocates on new projects and events.

2. Getting special access to Qiskit core members and projects

As an advocate, you will be able to ask questions to members of the Qiskit team and find a mentor through our mentorship program.

3. Being recognized by IBM

As an advocate, you will have the opportunity to have your work supported and highlighted by IBM.

4. Receiving invitations to events

As an active advocate, you will be invited to global (physical or virtual) events created for the quantum community such as Qiskit Camps and IBM Quantum Challenges.

Advocate highlights

• Amir Ebrahimi: I’ve Worked in Game Development My Whole Career — Here’s Why I’m Learning Quantum Computing
• Amira Abbas: I Worked in Finance — Here’s Why I’m Learning Quantum Computing
• Desiree Vogt-Lee: How I’ve Been Able to Improve Qiskit as a Qiskit Advocate
• Farai Mazhandu: Join Qiskit Advocates to Expand Your Network and Grow
• Jack Woehr: Benefits of the Qiskit Advocate: Qiskit Project Access
• Junye Huang: Qiskit Advocate Applications Open Today — Here’s What You Can Expect from the Program
• Kevin Roche: I’m a Maker and Costume Designer, Here’s Why I’m Learning Quantum Computing
• Kiran Johns: Going Quantum, my journey so far as a Qiskit Advocate and a reflection on the things I learned
• Mark Cunningham: How I got started in the world of Quantum Computing and my experiences so far as a Qiskit Advocate!
• Omar Costa Hamido: I’m a Musician, and Here’s Why I’m Learning Quantum Computing
• Rochisha Agarwal: How I became a Qiskit Advocate
• Samanvay Sharma: Quantum Events Are Even Better As A Qiskit Advocate
• Samuel Choi: 학부생은 IBM Qiskit Advocate를 꿈꾸는가? 2020: A Quantum Odyssey — and a year later
• Soyoung Shin: My first month after being Qiskit Advocate
• Vicente Pina Canelles: Why I became a Qiskit Advocate, and why you should, too

Who can apply?

We welcome anyone who is enthusiastic about quantum computing and eager to grow the Qiskit community.

How you can apply:

Here are the steps for applying to become an advocate:

1. Make contributions to Qiskit code and community (Deadline: July 15, 2021) Community contributions can vary depending on individual interests including code, tutorials, textbook chapters, bug reporting, Slack support, blogs, videos, events, and more. See the Contributions section below for different types of contributions that you could make. All contributions must be made before July 15, 2021 and submitted as part of your application.
2. Submit Application Form (June 1 - July 15, 2021) Applications must be submitted no later than July 15, 2021, 11:59 p.m. EDT. The Application Form will be made available on June 1, 2021.
3. Take the Advocate test (June 1 - August 1, 2021) This should take 90 minutes depending on your knowledge of Qiskit. You must submit the application to receive a voucher code to take the exam. The exam is proctored and will need to be scheduled, so please keep this in mind when submitting your materials and give yourself plenty of time and apply early!
4. Application review (June 1 - August 15, 2021) Applications will be reviewed by the Qiskit advocate squad on a rolling basis. All application requirements, including the test, must be finished by August 1, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Test

The Qiskit advocate test will be the Qiskit Developer Certification. Here's a sample test and a study guide for the developer certification. You can read more here about how to prepare for the test.

Contributions

Here are some examples of contributions we consider valuable for the community. Tier 1 > Tier 2 > Tier 3 > Tier 4 in terms of significance.

Both quantity and quality of contributions will be examined by us. For example, if you have been very active on Slack and answered many questions/participated in many meaningful discussions, these contributions will be considered higher importance than just answering two or three questions. On the other hand, a PR fixing a critical bug or adding a new feature to Qiskit will be considered more important than a few PRs fixing typos of Qiskit textbook chapters. Each submitted contribution will be scored by the application reviewers. You must score at least 20 points to be considered for the program. Below are examples of some common contributions and the anticipated range of points we attribute to those contributions. This rubric gives guidance to the applicant, but is not exhaustive and may not cover every type of contribution and scores may vary in exceptional circumstances.

Tier 1 (12-15 points)

• Open source contributions that are significant
  • Qiskit code: introduce new features
  • Qiskit textbook: new chapters
  • Qiskit tutorials: new tutorials
• Research papers using IBM Quantum systems / Qiskit
• Winners of IBM Quantum / Qiskit events
  • IBM Quantum Challenge top 10
  • Qiskit Camps
  • Qiskit hackathons
  • Open Science Prize
• Qiskit Localization Contributor - Platinum/Gold Level Translator

Tier 2 (8-12 points)

• Individual Qiskit projects that are comprehensive
• Start a quantum computing club
• Organize a quantum hackathon
• Create quantum / qiskit related content
  • Create a popular Blog site
  • Create a popular YouTube channel
  • Create a popular Podcast series
• Qiskit Localization Contributor - Silver/Bronze Level Translator

Tier 3 (4-8 points)

• Open source contributions that are relatively simple
  • Qiskit code: simple bug fix
• Create quantum / Qiskit related content
  • Videos
  • Blogposts
  • Talks
  • Workshops
• Individual Qiskit projects that are relatively simple.
• Active participation of IBM Quantum / Qiskit events.

Tier 4 (1-4 points)

• Qiskit textbook / tutorials: fixing typos
• Qiskit Slack: constructive discussions
• StackExchange: accepted answers to Qiskit related questions

Resources for making great contributions

• Make open source contributions
  • Coding with Qiskit S1E7: How to Contribute to Qiskit (video)
  • How Do You Contribute to the Qiskit Community? (blog post)
• Contribute to translations: Qiskit Localization project
• Start a QC club: Quantum Clubs Could Be Your Ticket Into the Quantum Computing Field (blog post)
• Organize a Qiskit hackathon: How to Organize a Qiskit hackathon (slides)
• Conduct workshops and give talks: Qiskit Virtual Event Guide

Questions?

Have questions? Make sure to join #qiskit-advocates-application in the Qiskit slack.