My first PyCon
Almost 2 years ago, in the last week of 2019, I started thinking about the things I would regret not having done. One stood out as a great pending debt: I had never taken part in a PyCon. I had watched some online talks on topics I wanted to learn but I had the impression that they were only for expert developers. How wrong I was! It was impostor syndrome in all its glory: by then, I had already been developing in Python for about 10 years, I had created some software, scientific computing libraries with numpy, and I loved the language. However, I didn’t consider myself a real developer: I had never contributed to an Open Source project and I wasn’t part of any community. Even so, the curiosity and desire were greater, and in a moment of impulsiveness I signed up for PyCon Colombia. I would sort out the matter of tickets and accommodation later.
A few days later, I found out more about the event. The call for talks was still open, and I dared to apply. After all, it was unlikely that my talk would be accepted, and at least I could tell myself that I had tried. The topic I proposed was a very specific problem: how to make interactive polls in a presentation with Jupyter Notebooks and the rise extension. A topic for which I hadn’t found information on the internet. It was the talk I would have loved to hear and that I had never found. To my surprise, the application was accepted and I had no more excuses not to go. Medellín, here we come! Those were still the days of in-person conferences.
It’s hard for me to describe how important and transformative that PyCon was. First of all, it helped me understand that the Python community is tremendously welcoming, inclusive and diverse: there are spaces for everyone interested, from those just starting out to those who define the language, and that Python’s applications span all industries and topics. It was fascinating to share my geekiness with other people and find peers at the talks, as well as attending keynotes from which I learned a lot, and having the chance to talk with great personal references like Fernando Pérez (Ipython and Jupyter) and Wes McKinney (pandas).
What surprised me the most was that everyone was completely normal: nobody acted like a star, and you could strike up a conversation with anyone. I enjoyed it so much that I regretted having missed the previous conferences. How much time I had wasted by not having dared earlier!
Since then I’ve taken part in more events and it has always been a transformative experience: from discovering new libraries, learning some new Python trick, sharing my interests, expanding my network of contacts and a long etcetera.
I’ve given some additional talks, at PyCons in Chile, Argentina and Latam. I’ve also been rejected at many others, like at Jupyter Con. And you know what? It’s fine. Life goes on; from the rejections I’ve learned that my proposal wasn’t mature enough to be presented. And that’s it. No need to dwell on it. Like everything, I think my talks improved over time thanks to feedback and learning. My latest talk at PyCon Chile, about the streamlit library I was starting to play with, caught the community’s attention and now I find myself collaborating with the creators and their community. Something I certainly never imagined could happen.
You’re surely wondering, and what could I contribute at a PyCon? Each person has different experiences, strengths and opinions. I can’t answer that question for you, but I’m sure there’s a talk inside you waiting to come out. Submit a talk about something you’re truly passionate about. Let it be that topic you bore your coworkers with and that you’re always reading something about. It can be a library, methodologies, specific problems or community topics. The important thing is that you can convey your enthusiasm. Don’t give a talk on a topic just because it’s popular. Present it your way. Make it entertaining. It’s not a scientific conference or a class, but rather a gathering among friends and people of the same interest. You’ll realize that, in addition to contributing to the community, you’ll receive a great deal in return.
Submit your talk here: https://pycon-2022-production.herokuapp.com/2022/speaking/charlas/
