PyCon US 2019 absolutely blew me away.
And, yeah, I realize it was nearly six months ago. But there have been some things that have been lingering in my thoughts that I need to share.
My secondMy last post covered open spaces. thought is about:
The People of PyCon
I can’t tell you how amazing it was to meet the individuals I read, listen to, or who make the tools I use.
I was so happy to meet the authors that helped me to grow over the last few years, especially Dan Bader, Peter Baumgartner, Matt Harrison, Reuven Lerner, Harry Percival , and Lacey Williams Henschel.
I love podcasts, so it was wonderful to meet Michael Kennedy and Brian Okken in person.
And I was happy to meet Paul Ganssle, Russell Keith-Magee, Barry Warsaw, and other maintainers and contributors.
It was a delight to meet Bob Belderbos and Julian Sequeira from PyBites.
This list is not to make anyone jealous, or show off the people I happened to run into. Instead, it’s here to serve as a testament to how easy it can be to meet people you know about in the Python space.
And having meet these great people, I’ve had the blessing of being able to continue my interaction with a few of them since.
Additionally, for me it gave me the realization that I can do more. It doesn’t take a python expert to contribute to a project or contribute to the community.
It was very empowering for me, and I hope the same for you.
If you’re not in the position of having a job that will pay you to attend, the Python Software Foundation offers scholarships, and they’re open for requests at the time of this writing.
But seriously, do what you can to go. Start planning this month to attend PyCon 2020, or a conference closer to you.