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Step 1: review eligibility

  • You must be at least 18 years of age at the start of the mentorship program.

  • The mentorship will be remote. However, you must be eligible to work in the country and jurisdiction where you reside in for the duration of the program.

  • You have not participated in another Linux Foundation hosted mentorship program (such as CNCF or Risc-V) before.

  • Both students and those who are looking for open source contribution experience as part of their career exploration or professional advancement are welcome to participate.

  • Please review any additional eligibility requirements that may apply. 

Step 2: discover projects

  • Take a look at the list of mentorship projects that are accepting mentee applications on LFX in 2025, carefully review additional details of the corresponding mentorship projects on GitHub, so as to identify which project(s) you're interested in.

  • Ask yourself which projects you are the most excited or curious about exploring? The project descriptions, learning objectives and outcomes, and any additional information or links on the project page may give you some insight. 

  • Ask yourself which projects are a better fit for your profile and align with your strength. Be sure to read about the educational level and skills required or desired to evaluate if you are qualified.

  • Lastly, we expect mentees to be able to contribute ~15 hours a week on a consistent basis from June to November. Please make sure the program dates will fit into your schedule taking into consideration your other academic, professional, or personal commitments.

Note: Each applicant may apply for multiple but no more than THREE projects. We recommend that you focus your effort on 2 projects and submit a quality application for those two projects.   

Step 3: ask questions (optional)

We encourage you to contact the LF Decentralized Trust staff, the mentors and community if you have questions about the program and/or the mentorship projects themselves.

  • If your questions are about the program in general or the application process please contact mentorship@lfdecentralizedtrust.org

  • If you would like to clarify any technical aspects, please join our Discord and ask your questions on the corresponding project or community's public channels. Public discussions benefit all who may be interested in the project and it helps efficiently address the same or similar questions many others may have. This is the open source way that we encourage applicants to adhere to. 

  • Please be thoughtful with how you ask your questions and be respectful of the time it may take for the maintainers to respond to your questions. 

Step 4: prepare application materials

Besides collecting standard demographic and contact information on the application, you will be asked to subit a resume and cover letter. The cover letter will ask you to address the following questions to not only demonstrate your qualifications but also your passion about becoming an active open source contributor. 

  • How did you find out about our program?

  • Why are you interested in the project(s) you're applying to?

  • What experience and knowledge/skills do you have that are applicable to the requirements of the project(s) you're applying to?

  • What do you hope to get out of this experience?

  • Some projects may ask you to supply additional information about your open source contribution experience or work samples or complete a code challenge. Please review any customized requirements and prepare the materials accordingly.

Step 5: apply on LFX Mentorship Platform

LFX Mentorship, developed by The Linux Foundation, is the portal where the LF Decentralized Trust mentorship projects are listed and mentee applications taken.

  • Go to LFX Mentorship Platform

  • Create Your Mentee Profile (you will need to create an LFID first you don't already have one)

  • Search by "LFDT" to see all LF Decentralized Trust projects open for application

  • Click on the specific LFDT projects to read about the project details

  • Be sure to "View Site" to take you to the corresponding page for complete detailed project information

  • When ready, click "Apply" (remember you can apply up to 3 mentorship projects)

  • Complete the application prerequisites including your latest resume and cover letter. Some mentors may require that you supply additional information about your open source contribution experience or work samples. Incomplete application may be excluded from being considered.

  • Please review detailed application instructions for additional information about how to apply on LFX Mentorship.

All required application materials must be received by May 10th, 2025.

Questions?

Please email mentorship@lfdecentralizedtrust.org