Dublin has been on my travel list for some time, and now that my Django talk was accepted, it gave me an excuse to bump it up the list.
I wasn’t prepared for the cold temperature, but the daily hot chocolate from Dolce Sicily that my favorite friend Lais introduced me to made everything better.
My talk was on Django Optimizations using the Django Debug Toolbar, code used can be found here.
Earlier this year I got the chance to join Djangonaut Space. Djangonaut Space is a program that focuses on group learning, sustainability, and enduring impact. Djangonauts are community members seeking to elevate their Django coding abilities and potentially become future leaders in the Django community.
During my time as a Djangonaut, I contributed to the Django Debug Toolbar. I had used the toolbar previously in a different project to track query counts, but I never really got into the internals of how it actually worked. I also started contributing to Django News by writing Django Updates. I leveled up in the project and volunteered to maintain it, which I continue to do today.
PyCon Ireland was a unique two-day conference without keynotes. I attended a couple of talks, including:
- How the Irish Speak English: Python machine learning for understanding Irish accents in English by Peter Nolan
- Securing the Supply Chain by Tom Doyle
- Build a Powerful Autonomous Assistant with AI by Mark
I enjoyed delivering my talk to a receptive audience who asked thoughtful questions and provided valuable feedback. It was exciting to connect with both Django newcomers and experienced developers.
The second day was filled with workshops, including: - Vector Search and RAG with Python & MongoDB by Mark - Master Advanced Web Scraping Techniques in Python by Fabien Vauchelles
I liked the diverse range of sessions, from AI and data analytics to Python internals and web development.
Despite the chilly weather, I recommend attending PyCon Ireland. It's a fantastic opportunity to connect with other developers, learn from experienced professionals, and contribute to the vibrant Python community. I am incredibly grateful to Djangonaut Space for their support in helping me reach this milestone. Please consider supporting this amazing program to empower future generations of Django developers.