As part of our commitment to supporting aspiring female software engineers, Toptal has established the Toptal Scholarships contest. These scholarships provide assistance to women from around the world to help empower them to become top professional software engineers. Subject to these Toptal Scholarships Official Rules, the selected recipients will receive US$5,000 and one year of one-on-one mentorship from a Toptal software engineer.

Benefits:

• Each prize consists of US$5,000 and one year of programming-related mentorship by a Toptal designated mentor. Moreover, the mentor will be an experienced software programmer who works for or with Toptal.
• The mentorship portion will consist of at least forty (40) hours of remote mentorship via telephone or VoIP conversation. Further, it will cover different aspects of software programming, as determined by the mentor.
• The Scholarship Program will have up to 12 winners (“winners” or “recipients”).

Eligibility:

• The Scholarships Program is only available to women and girls age 13 and older. Further, individuals who consistently live and identify as women, age 13 and older are eligible.
• This is an international Scholarship Program.  However, you must be a legal resident or citizen of your country of residence to enter the Scholarship Program.
• The Scholarship Program is unavailable to citizens of countries that prohibit the Scholarship Program. Moreover, citizens of nations that are prohibited by U.S. law are also are not eligible.
• The Scholarship program is not available to any person listed on any of the following (or similar) lists; Specially Designated Nationals and Consolidated Sanctions Lists (maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury); the Denied Persons, Entity, and Unverified Lists (maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security, Toptal Scholarships Official Rules 3 U.S. Department of Commerce); and the Consolidated List of sanctions designations by the United Nations, European Union and United Kingdom.
• Employees, clients, and contractors (including current talent engaged with or through Toptal) of Toptal, LLC as well as other companies involved in the conduct of this Scholarship Program, and any employees, members of
  the immediate families and households of any such employees and contractors of any of the foregoing are not eligible to enter.
• However, the scholarship is void where prohibited by law

How to apply

Your application will be eligible if you successfully complete all the following steps:

• First, make an open source software contribution (“OSS Contribution”) to a project on GitHub. Or, begin your own open source project on GitHub. Any type of GitHub contribution is acceptable, however,
• • (a) it must consist solely of your own personal work and
  • (b) it must comply with all of GitHub’s requirements, policies, guidelines, and terms and conditions with respect to starting or contributing to an open source project on GitHub.
• Team projects and the inclusion of any material that you did not create are not permitted. Next, publish a post on your personal blog (“Blog Post”) about the open source contribution you made via GitHub. The post must be at least 250 words.
• Finally, complete the application here. This will include answering a short essay question about:
• • your professional goals, and
  • how winning this scholarship will help you achieve them (“Essay”).
• Your essay and accompanying information must be fully complete and submitted through the Toptal scholarship Application page prior to the Scholarship Program end date to be eligible. You may only submit one application for this Scholarship Program.
• However, applications must be submitted in accordance with any technical specifications set forth in the Scholarship Program Application. Applications will be declined if not correctly completed and submitted.
• Toptal assumes no responsibility for any failure to receive an Application as a direct or indirect result of a technical problem or any kind of computer, network, carrier, or third-party malfunction or other problem.