PyCon is an annual convention for the discussion and promotion of the Python programming language. We here at Stratasan use Python to build and drive all of our products, so we make an effort to attend each year.
Being the largest conference focused on the Python programming language, there’s so much to do that doing everything is just impossible. When attending this conference, you’ll need to plan out what you are going to do based on what you are wanting to get out of it.
For instance, the talks are always great, but they’re uploaded to YouTube to watch freely, immediately after the conference, so don’t stress out if you can’t make all the talks. We like to prioritize the talks we will attend based on questions or difficulties we’re having when building our application. The benefit of attending the talks is the opportunity to speak to the presenter after the talk and have discussions on the specific topics you’re having trouble with.
The real value comes from meeting people and one of the easiest ways to do that is via open spaces. Open spaces are self-organizing, meetup-like, events which occur in parallel to the main conference. They last about one hour and are on a variety of topics. If you’re having problems in an area that’s not covered by a talk, you can host your own open space!
There’s lots of good networking to be done, there’s plenty of opportunities where you get a little more hands-on work, and it’s just generally fun to be surrounded by people who are interested in the same things as you are! We like to optimize for the human interactions and make it a point to meet and hang out with new people each year. These new connections can be industry professionals and newcomers alike and almost everyone we’ve met has helped us in one way or another.
If you love Python, PyCon is the place to go.
