PyCon UK 2019
Last weekend I returned to Cardiff for PyConUK 2019. This is the national Python conference and it’s pretty big. It takes over the city hall for five days, with 2-3 speaking tracks, plus workshops and other events (like the children’s day and the Django Girls workshop).
Python has a wonderful community that is welcoming and inclusive, and this conference absolutely reflects that. I heard talks from a fantastic mix of people, with different backgrounds and experiences and from different age groups, genders and nationalities. The organisers of PyConUK worked very hard to make sure everyone was heard and included, and the conference was stronger as a result. I learned much more from hearing (and speaking to) people with diversity of thought and experiences.
I heard talks about children running Python in space, Python running on a 3d printed microscope, organising PyCon Africa, various Python internals and more.
Impressively, the talks are already online. I especially enjoyed the keynotes for each day [1, 2, 3, 4],
These talks were also a particular highlight for me:
- Code walk this way by Mary Chester-Kadwell
- Syntactic sugar v maintainability by Richard Terry
- The fallacy of meritocracy by Nikoleta Glynatsi
- Dictionaries, behind the scenes by Gisela Rossi
- More than you ever wanted to know about Python functions by Mark Smith
- Clean architectures in Python by Leonardo Giordani
It wasn’t just talks though, we had board games, a trip to the museum, visits to Brodie’s and much socialising. It felt good to take some time out, in a different city.
I find conferences like this provide me with renewed energy and inspiration. So now that I’m back home, I’m keen to keep learning more about Python, keep chipping away at side projects and in particular, I’m keen to improve what I do within the tech community. It’s easy to forget what tech is about, especially with the amount of politics creeping in right now, but PyConUK reminded me of the shear joy of exploring new things and of gaining new knowledge.
I was able to catch up with some old faces, although perhaps not as many as last year, and meet some wonderful new people. I hope I can keep in touch with everyone I met at the conference and I look forward to hearing about the new things they’ve achieved at next year’s PyConUK!
