Navigating Django's Future: Djangonaut Space with Dawn Wages

Speaker 1: All right. Well, thank you all for coming to the talk. Um, let's jump right in. So this talk, if you haven't heard, is about Djangonaut Space. It's been all the buzz at this conference. It's a space for peer mentoring in contributing to Django Core. It's focused on collaborative learning, sustainability in the community, and long-term growth. Created and had a very successful pilot program all since the last Django Con. And I bet you're thinking. How do we do it? That's a great question, and we'll we'll tell you about it. We'll get there. But before we do, let's talk about us.

Speaker 2: My name is Dawn Wages, she, her pronouns, and I am the Python Software Foundation chair. It's been a new position of mine. Previously, I was the treasurer. And I've been organizing in Django Cons for a few years in various roles in US and Europe. And I'm a Python community advocate at Microsoft.

Speaker 1: Great. And hi, I'm Rachel Calhoun. I'm a staff engineer at a medical device company working with Python and Django. I'm a trustee with Django Girls Foundation, and I'm also an organizer with Djangonaut Space. So before we kind of get started with DjangoNot Space and what guides us and how it was started, we have to kind of go back in time. So let's rewind. So this is my pre-jangle life. I graduated with a degree from Western Michigan University in Spanish and French. Um I also studied Arabic. Um and then graduating I couldn't find a job that was satisfying or made enough money. So I went to um Korea to teach English.

Speaker 1: It was really fun. I was there for a long time. And I was I had a blast. Um but it got to a point of what's next, right? So I went to an interview for an e-publishing company that wanted someone that had teaching skills, that someone that had Um business skills and tech. I had one of the three, so I figured why not? I went into the um interview, it lasted three hours, it was supposed to be 30 minutes, and they had asked me, do you know what HTML is? And I was like something about the web, um, because I had zero tech skills at that point. And I didn't get the job, but from there I was like, well maybe I should learn some tech, because it is part of every industry these days. So um the next uh part of my life was to

Speaker 1: learn Python. I found uh user group in Seoul and we started studying on Coursera, edX, a lot of free resources, and we got some sponsorship too to do some paid. And we studied for one year all kinds of Python things. What we did Pi Raspberry or Raspberry Pi, we did Pi Game. But what really kind of hit me was the web stuff. We tried Flask, but then we tried Django So

Speaker 2: we got a pre-Django story, and this is my pre-Django story. Uh, I think you can recognize some of the colors on that screen that I'm also wearing right now. So let's do a call and response. So I say tar and you say heels. Tar. Hey, tar. Hey. Okay, that was really what I wanted to do. So I am a tar heel grad. Um I uh studied business in at UNC at Keenan Flagler School of Business. Um, before that I did have a little bit of MySpace in there and stuff, but like I I I let that go. I was intimidated by Dreamweaver and I was uh uh sure that you had to use Dreamweaver to be a web dev. So I I let that go and I'm like, okay, let me like sell my soul and do business.

Speaker 2: Um and I hadn't touched code since. And when I got out, um I uh oh, those are my line sisters down there were us being goofy. Um and when I got out I tried my hand in finance. That did not stick Uh and then I was a marketing analyst for a bit. I got a good job as a SQL analyst, but then there wasn't really great coworkers who were I I had some work life trauma there. There was like some real trauma that we're just, you know, working through in therapy right now. Um but between some of those things and I had some gig jobs, I was temp work I worked at a cheesesteak restaurant in Philadelphia as well. So I was I was living a dream, but not my dream. Uh and Being connected with uh Philly Python Users Group is really what got me

Speaker 2: into moving from an analyst and a sequel analyst to understanding what Python could actually do for me. And I fell in love with Django. And Django 2016 when uh Django Khan came to Philadelphia really feels like my start of the relationship and why I'm here in front of you at all.

Speaker 1: Right. Um and so the next part of my story is where Django came into my life. So I was at that Python users group studying with other um Pythonistas and we started learning Django. And one of the things that was really impactful of that group was that I had people that showed up for me and that sponsored me and that sent me um links to they're like here have you heard of Jane Girls? Maybe we should organize it. Why don't you do that, Rachel? Um And I was like, what's this? Uh so I did take that um into consideration and we ended up um s uh hosting Django Girl Souls, the first one. We had a hundred people involved in it. It was wildly successful. And it there's still um uh organizations and events there happening today because of that. And that's really exciting.

Speaker 1: Um And I mean we've seen already the impact at this conference so many times of Django Girls. Um the keynote, the excellent keynote by Abigail, that she talks about her impact, uh the impact of Django Girls in her life. Dawn did an excellent lightning talk about Django Girls and she hosted an event here. So these initiatives that focus on connection, sponsorship are really important in sustaining community, but also in including people that might not have been included before and opening doors for them and inviting them in. And so um like when I had done Django Girl Soul, one of the things when they had me kind of push me into leadership that was really impactful because I became the leader of this organization.

Speaker 1: And then that connected me with the bigger j community and later on some Django cons and let's see I also very lucky to have received a scholarship from Toptal. They not only gave me a mentor to meet with weekly for an hour to go over my code. and work on a project. They also f financially supported me and I was able to use those funds to go to partially to go to the first DjangoCon where I went DjangoCon both Europe and US And so in DjangoCon, Europe, I had met some great folks, and some of them are here. So thank you. But um one of the things about sponsorship that I wanted to bring up, I met someone and she said, Hey, why don't you submit a talk for JamalCon US?

Speaker 1: You'd be great. And you know what I did. And I ended up speaking the for the first time at that next DjangoCon US, where I met even more great people. And it's this theme of inclusivity and connection and sponsorship and pushing people and inviting them to do things that maybe they didn't think they we're capable of and it helps them break their own boundaries. Like me, I never would have imagined I could give a successful um talk at a conference Um anyway, so it comes to DjangoCon US, where I gave my first talk. It was great. And uh I also was a coach there for Django Girls. And little did I know at the time Paths have my paths with Dawn had crossed and we would seem to be besties.

Speaker 1: But we didn't know each other then. We were just in the same space. And I feel like that's a common theme with a lot of people here.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so I got to DjangoCon 2016 and that was so exciting. And I really loved one of the things that um that Rachel's been speaking about specifically about sponsorship. that it doesn't just come from financial sponsorship. It comes with like sponsoring and encouraging someone to take up space in whatever the room they're entering. And I felt like that when I was joining the Philly Pug group, I used to like sit at the back and I used to listen to this talks on data science with a a group full of like 200 and something people. I mean Philly Pug got really big, right? If it got really big. And it was really exciting and in uh intimidating at the same time, but when people made eye contact with me as a new dev and talk to me like I had compet competencies they just hadn't uh un

Speaker 2: uncovered yet. I felt like I deserved to be there and it felt empowering And so there's some people like in these pictures that are literally sitting here right now and I see you and I feel supported and I feel loved and I think that's a lot of what that community has given me over the past what like six, seven, eight years so far Um, we're getting a little old. So these are some uh see these are some of my uh uh pictures of some of the previous conferences I've been to. So I started in 2016. I was still working in sling and cheesesteaks at that point, but I used like all of the monies and the pennies and pocket lint. and I tried to get on that plane and go to Spokane and Edinburgh. I had a little more money then. It was a good job then. And I spoke uh my first time speaking was very soon after I started learning how to program at Wagtail Space

Speaker 2: And these are kind of like a collage of some of my highlights, but they were not all highlights. We were definitely crying over our command line every once in a while. So it is a balance, it's ebbs and flows. I am so proud to be able to show you my highlight reel, but it is not all highlights. And I'd love to talk to you more about when it's not your highlights we can, we can commiserate and hug. I I I love emotions. So more pictures. This was one of the best things that I've ever done. This is my first Django Girls I've ever run. This was at DjangoCon Copenhagen. Uh we have uh Noah and Basha there and it was a fantastic group and Uh I'd love so in my Django Girls experience here, my turnout is

Speaker 2: highly engaged, high-touch interactions, a little bit smaller. But this group was r truly the biggest I'd ever seen. And I know we can get back there um in DjangoCon US. There's going to be a Django Girls at PiCon US in twenty twenty four. at Pittsburgh. So if you're going to be there, volunteer as a coach. And if you have any connections with the Pittsburgh area, please let me know so we can do some work on the ground to get the information into the people who can actually use it and like start that career Um it was fun. We're we're smiling and we really mean it. And I was lending my time and energy. This is uh more of that same conference. I've done some talking, I was on the organizing team. I they gave me a mic and they let me talk and I felt like I had some of that sponsorship and connection.

Speaker 2: And did I make it? I I don't know. I've had some highlights. I feel really good. This is a good career. I'm not complaining. But What does making it mean?

Speaker 1: All right. Um and so me too. Um after, you know, Django Girl Soul Um I had met my future wife. We moved to the US. And so in the plan in the span of three months, I had given I had traveled to what New York, Philadelphia, given my first given my first uh conference talk and planned a wedding and got married. It was pretty it was and it was pretty intense. And then also submitted probably a hundred applications. I did like you know, five, ten interviews. And finally I landed my first tech job. Um and it had been, you know, a couple years in the making at that point. And so I was really excited. Um we we leased an apartment, we moved. And then as you can see, I did a lightning talk in 2018 about this.

Speaker 1: If you were there, you know, you know the the result. But um how my wife got me fired. So the first job I got was unfortunately a very conservative religious like affiliated uh company and they had required me to affirmed that I believe a marriage is only between a man and a woman and I could not so they fired me on my second day. So that was unfortunate. Um but you know in the end it worked out and I found better things. And The reason I did find better opportunities was that connection and sponsorship. I had reached out to Django Girls community and they had reached out to some folks here. And they connected me with someone who needed a Django dev. And he's here too. So and eventually, so yeah, I worked a year there.

Speaker 1: And then when I needed another opportunity, that kind of connected um network. found that for me and I'm still at that um second job. So like connection and sponsorship is really important. Um and these policies and initiatives that focus on what inclusivity, connection, sponsorship and accountability, like these are not just um you know uh points to to get. It's they they work. And I'm here and Dawn 's here because of these initiatives. And we've seen, like I said earlier with Django Girls, like a lot of people are here and becoming leaders in the community because of these kind of initiatives. So that brings us closer. We're in DjangoCon, US 2019, and um I ran into some old friends, uh

Speaker 1: Nicole, and I finally met Don. Um and we connected there and we had a wild karaoke night. It was really fun. And hopefully we're doing that again this time. There you go.

Speaker 2: And then cut to 2022, this was last year, we had the State of Django panel. Um, and on it we had conversations about what we needed and Mariush's uh hot take. So if you're not familiar with Mariush They're one of the Django Fellows, full-time paid to work on Django and maintain um Django along with Natalia. We talked about that there's a need for a mentorship program and things like this exist in the open source community um already. Um and so if you recognize two of those friendly faces, those smiles on there, we're on stage. So

Speaker 1: did you want to Okay.

Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Okay. And we're talking about the pre-fight. So we're we're almost there. Um we're We're now preparing for what we think is uh about to be a hit. We know it in our guts. And we uh quickly connected after the session we reached out to some of our uh people who sponsor us and just ideas and intellectuality and they said okay this has legs we can we can move it and we pulled people in So at this at the conference, uh I'll I'll let you read it for yourself, but we have uh participate in Google Summer of Code. we we have done other mentorship type programs and we do really trade on some of that uh community to be able to keep our our uh open source code going

Speaker 2: but there was a gap. And we had more with Marius.

Speaker 1: And so I'll read it for you. My hot take is that we need a mentorship program. We need a mentorship program for new Django core developers. Um this hot take and another one I've heard is how do we get non white blokes? Carlton, thanks for that um description. But yeah It was a it was something we've heard again and again. And even the previous year, I heard people talking about it, but nothing had been done. So that's what kind of fired um us up into action. And so here my kind of hot take was historically excluded groups of people are just that. They're excluded. And often they feel like they're uncomfortable stepping up or making that first connection. So if there's a mentorship program That you need someone to be like, hey, why don't you try this? Hey, you'd be great at this. And just bring them in. It's an active approach of inclusion instead of passive.

Speaker 1: And so that brings us here. Make the space and they will come. But we don't like to think of that because, as we've seen, active inclusion is more effective than passive. And so um make the space and they will come. No, only those people that feel comfortable will come in. Um they'll be more likely to come in also if you reach out directly to them. So one thing we've learned is If you send a message in the chat, for example, that's like, anybody want to volunteer? No one or less people will volunteer, but if you reach out directly to someone, I think you'd be really good at this opportunity. What do you think about it? That is very effective. And it's been effective in our organization as well. And this approach is nothing new.

Speaker 1: We're just applying it to a new problem. With our experiences from our personal lives, as we've seen in the previous slides, but also we're taking lessons from other organizations that are doing similar work. So we're standing on the backs of giants. And you can see some orgs here. Kubernetes, underdog devs, summer, Google Summer of Code, Outreachy, and of course Django Girls. And so we are lucky to have those influences in our lives to help inspire us and to lead best practices in documentation. So yeah, and this planning and execution didn't happen instantaneously Um and like I said, we didn't invent any wheel. Um we pulled from these successful organizations for it.

Speaker 2: We've done a lot of lead up, but I'm just gonna tell you it was a roaring success. Our first fight went well. Okay. Okay, so we're gonna go through some stats and then we'll also talk a little bit about how the um how the platform actually uh went and some of the thought that we put into making sure the the program went well So our first pilot program really just started with a time frame. We didn't know how long to do. So I was thinking, hey, why don't we do quarterly? I don't know. I'm in the business world too much. So we started with three months. We had nine PRs merge, but as of this morning, I'm gonna slide back and forth.

Speaker 2: As of this morning, we had another contribution uh to some familiar names from Mariana and then you may f be familiar with Sarah Boyce as well. They were like, I don't care about your presentation. I'm just gonna keep kipping butt. Uh we had four PRs merged, we had 25 weekly catch-ups. We had 16 one-on-ones. Uh we had two fellows present. We it was really, really great to get uh conversations from Natalia and Marjush. Um and we had a hundred and fifty-four reviews comment review comments. That's Amazing. They were working every week. And our we really focused on trying to keep some retention

Speaker 2: excuse me, some retention in our contributors. But we knew that with this lax kind of schedule, with this really warm and fuzzy approach, that we really wanted to also make space for people who have lives. Just like open source does and encourage communication when lives get in the way of some of these amazing stats that we're trying to reach So now we have a baseline of what we're starting with. What are we going to do next time? We also Celebrated a bunch. That's a huge, huge, huge tennin of what we do. I think you can tell from our personalities we're pretty p Okay. Not all of us have to be, but these are roles that we kind of naturally fit in and we think really play a big part in the pilot program.

Speaker 2: And this is the the latest commit. 80% of the group that we talk to feel more comfortable contributing to Django. this we were really waxing poetic on how do we keep stats. We're all, you know, pretty analytical. Your master's degree does does that as well. Um and we really wanted to figure out a way to capture some of the soft and fuzzy feelings of entering that space. And we feel like this does this does the same. A hundred percent feel more comfortable with participating participating in the Django community. Which really brings a point that we're going to hearken on several times over in this event, that it's not just about code. A lot of the contributors contributed in other ways that were not just about pull requests and commits. And let's like

Speaker 2: dive into our sky chart. We're very clearly you can tell we're very deep into the the theme of the space. I like it a lot. My my handle is Bajoran Engineer for a particular reason. I like space. So we're looking for are North stars. Um there are multiple North stars in this scenario. Don't it isn't it doesn't hold up on the the metaphor all the way. But things that really brought us together and make sure that we're on the right track. And so as we add new features and forms and processes, to this process uh to this program, are we kind of committing to the same thing? Are we are we pro contributing to the same program? And as Rachel has mentioned a couple times before, accountability,

Speaker 2: connection, uh sponsorship, and inclusive inclusivity are the main ones. I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1: Great. Um and so like I think that um some of these uh we didn't come from our experience saying, Oh yeah, this is what exactly thing that helped me succeed. But looking back, these are the common themes. Um and I mean as we talked about all of them. So we're gonna go through how some of these come out in our pilot program and and how we can see them and and why they um lead us to success. So the accountability. This one is good to kind of keep people motivated and going. And you can see here this is a quote from one of our Django Nats. I had said, I think meeting folks in the community weekly and bi-weekly is a motivator for me. It feels good to share what I'm up to and see what works

Speaker 1: what work others are doing. And so this is kind of uh it's inspirational to see other people working on the same things you are. It's also fun to share and to brag about what you've done or get help with what you need. Um so these Uh check-ins are really important, but also like it's to the point of contributing to Django is a marathon, it's not a sprint. And these regular commitments will they help reap great results. Yeah.

Speaker 2: We also have connection. Um so the quote from R. Django Not is for me it is all about the people. um involved in the program. Everyone has been friendly and supportive. We hope so. We try. Which created an environment that's welcoming and free of judgment. And so that was really what, and we'll talk about it more of our our check-ins, but that was really what the captain's roles were, is kind of to to figure you out and kind of to to help with the emotional soft stuff of it. Um and I we love this quote, so this is why we got uh gave it a a fancy special screen. But Touchar uh said that what I like about Django Not space is we have the feeling of being a part of the community. especially by meeting the folks I've seen working on Django.

Speaker 2: And I love this one in particular because Django as a community doesn't really trade on celebrity like other communities do so much. You'll be sitting next to someone who really did a really big thing, someone who integrated async into Django, and they're just kind of like chilling, talking to you about the weekend or some sports games going on or whatnot. And it feels really welcoming. And so as the Django Knots have been able to interface with some of these people, they were like Oh my god, I'm ha having a conversation with the person. And we're like, yeah, you are, because you're you're you're pretty cool and keep going.

Speaker 1: And I mean I think that the point that emphasizes we're all people. Um with uh you know, interactions but also contributing. Uh so it's important to that we kind of were people first. Um the next point we're at, the next theme is sponsorship, and I've mentioned this a few different times, but um this This is, let's read it. So it says, it's another quote from one of our Django Nazis said, holding talks and sessions with Django fellows is the best part of the program. I would like to see the program hold more of them in the future. I mean, and hopefully we will. And so this is a call to action. Anyone who would like to speak to some of our future Django nuts, um, get in touch with us because we want to hear from you. Um Anyway, so uh sponsorship can come in the form of um, you know, giving talks, making connections, connecting with um

Speaker 1: other uh contributors and people in the community. Also, one thing, like I had said, we had reached out to some of our Django NAS directly to ask them, hey, you'd be really good at this. Would you like to write the Django newsletter section for this week? And yes, they jumped right on it. Another thing, blog posts, encourage talk submissions, sharing, encourage leadership roles within the community, sharing links and resources. Um, but open source work can only open doors if you tell people about it. So this is also where celebrating comes in. And so even sharing or liking. celebrating our wins and our Django Knots wins together is really important so that they are recognized and they have that visibility in the community.

Speaker 2: And inclusivity. So as we've mentioned, we we've talked a lot about marginalized communities really feeling represented and the groups of people that've come together to make this work are from a large, diverse group. Um, we don't cover all of the bases. It's really hard to try to do that, but we really want to make a space that is for us and and by us. But um can white syshead blokes join? Absolutely. Some of my favorite people are white syshead blokes. You can join, but the goal is really to make everyone feel comfortable and a lot of that inclusivity benefits the entire group. It's not only for marginalized people and partnerships with other groups are working,

Speaker 2: are in the works in similar spaces. So there's real really re-free form on some of these partnerships for like Black Python devs or with um other groups, Django Girls, for example. We want to understand what that partnership and relationship can look like We could end up being a pipeline or it could be a consultative relationship. So if you do feel like you are part of an organization that is um around in the secondary or tertiary rings of what this mentorship group could be Um, whether it's a more technical or more uh community-oriented, please let us know and we'd love to have uh collaboration sessions. We're always open to learning. and growing and evolving this program. Like we just mentioned, we just ran our pilot. We're here to test and figure out what the next flight's gonna look like.

Speaker 2: You can speak her. So um we wanted to figure out uh so many times uh throughout the career there is of hey you should you should do this thing. I think you'd be great. I see something in you. I'm looking at you and I think you're you're fantastic. You're the bee's knees. Come and do the thing.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And so like in in like my first talk submission, um, you know, even starting J Own Grill Soul um in my local in Grand Rapids, Michigan, starting with that as well, it's it's all all often about active inclusivity. And that's what we wanted to highlight. Next we're gonna get on the flight plan. And so how like what is the structure? How does this look? Like what are the details? Um and so we we took all those themes, accountability, sponsorship, connection, and inclusivity, and tried to create a space. To give folks the opportunity to succeed by holding them accountable with regular check-ins, by offering connection And by we have the Discord server, which we'll hear more about,

Speaker 1: and focus on human-first connections with our captains. And also be a good friend, just be a person and and check in like, hey, how's life? Um, is anything getting in your way? What can we do? Um So one of the highlights of the I had mentioned is speakers. We had Marius talk about Django ticketing. A lot of our Django nuts. This was like the first um roadblock that they ran into. They had a hard time figuring out what ticket to work on and um managing the system. So he did a great talk uh for that's tailored to our Djangonauts. Um and that was thank you. The other one we had, Natalia, she talked about contributing without feeling overwhelmed, which I think is very important, especially for people just getting started because it can be very overwhelming.

Speaker 1: And again, if you'd like to come give a talk, uh similar relatable things, you can contact us.

Speaker 2: So through this, we've talked a lot about some of these things. It may seem like we are a very high-touch organization. But we really focus on the quality of touch and where people are naturally already going to be and how to communicate that. And then also trying to have um really effective conversations that show the kindness and love and blah blah blah blah blah without having um to steal away a bunch of people's time and do trust falls. We didn't do any trust falls in this. Maybe next iteration, but none of that. So we were trying to ga garner some of that trust in in other ways. Um one of the which is being able to uh directly connect them with larger parts of the community um very easily. Um so we picked Discord strategically because it is a a tool that we're all kind of converging on.

Speaker 2: I don't know if everyone recognizes all of the channels um but I'm a part of the unofficial and the official and then the Python and the Black Python's dev on my on my Discord where I have some notifications I gotta check. Um Um so but we also give them opportunities to speak out in public and we really like that.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And part of being on the jail server is One of the goals of the community is to transition them to the Django server. So we have our private Django Not Space server that we're trying to get them comfortable with. talking because public learning is hard in front of thousands of people, but maybe it's easier in you know like 30 in front of 30 people that are very like um supporters and cheerleaders for you. And that brings us to the next slide celebration That's a huge uh and I'm this is one of my favorite photo sequences that kind of highlights this. Um she was uh she was a participant of Django Girl Soul, and then she became a coach. And you could see her struggling through s she was stuck on something and then you could see her success. And that's the aha moment and that's what we strive for. And if a lot of people, if they don't get that moment

Speaker 1: They will and they quit before it, then they won't try again. So we want to make sure we get them over that. Um in Django Girls, but also Djangonaut Space. And so that's why we try to have a lot of touch points and we're we have async um communication we also have check-ins um in virtual meetings to um check in with them

Speaker 2: Yeah, so some of more of the qualifying touches of the the weekly check-ins and the by leach bi-weekly check-ins So following more on the navig um on the uh space theme, we have navigators um and we also have captains. Um and it it just performs a certain cadence that people can have some for the accountability aspect of it.

Speaker 1: Great. So what does it take to be a Djangonaut? Oh you don't have to you don't have to be a part of our organization to do it. You're doing it now.

Speaker 2: You're all Djangonaut. Yeah you can

Speaker 1: 't you know like you can you can write documentation code give feedback Comment on threads.

Speaker 2: Attend events.

Speaker 1: Yeah, organize events. Speak at events. Um, and celebrate with us.

Speaker 2: We don't have any secret sauce with this uh with this organization. Um what we're really doing is kind of providing the space for the Django Knots. We're not that clever. Uh it's just a thing.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And and one a great thing that has happened because of this, um, well, and a great initiative that we've seen is the what Django Global the virtual sprints. And if uh that's that's people taking initiative to Talk about their uh community. Let's look at the flight crew. Alright, so we have two navigators currently or in our pilot. We had seven jingonauts and four captains. Um the first uh Our program will be eight weeks. Our first was three months, but we're gonna cut it down. Navigators are mentors who will have weekly check-ins with their Django Knots. And captains are also have one-on-one weekly check-ins, but that's more of um That's more of uh to provide encouragement and pastoral support. Um we've seen, you know, some of our jingo nuts had some personal um problems and hardships, so we were there for them.

Speaker 1: And then we would coordinate with the navigator. to m help them understand what's going on.

Speaker 2: Just go quick. Yeah, so the Djangonauts we have on on screen of these smiling faces. Um these are just a few and they've done amazing things. We've been celebrating them online. If you think you could be a Django naut, this is someone who is uh kind of a little bit beyond their initial Django experience um and may want to contribute to core, this could be you.

Speaker 1: It's a great team, Lily Foot, uh Sarah Boyce, Tim Schilling um that introduced us. Um so Lily and Sarah uh boyce were the two ja two navigators, so they were like the mentors, and um Tim is one of the other organizers and then Don Wages is also an organizer

Speaker 2: and and Rachel Calhoun and also our a great great friend who's probably watching right near is now Sarah Abderman. It's been a really great group. And we also didn't discuss a enough of the the the navigator relationship. But if you are experienced in Django and you think this could be you, please apply to be a navigator. There are all levels of um participation that could be valuable.

Speaker 1: Huge shout out to the Django Software Foundation. They're a huge supporter, not just their org, but also their team members, and they provided us a grant to help us succeed. Looking forward, we have a test a thon. It'll be happening during sprints on Friday. Join us to test out Django 5. 0. You can find more on our website if you'd like to Uh pausing for a photo. You go to site DjangoNotts. space too. Um where we got sprints, where we sprint on DjangoNot. space, contribution sprints of funding, swag, planning our next cohort, applications. How does it all work? Do you have ideas? Come talk to us And come say hi and stay a while.

Speaker 2: And our new session is now open. So you can find all of these things on our website, like we mentioned. And this new one is we call them sessions. So click sessions link and you'll be able to find what the current session is and to apply. The application dev deadline is November 15th.

Speaker 1: All right, and so do you want to be part of Django's future? You can volunteer as a navigator or captain. You can sign up on our links on our site, and we'll have an info session with you. Um we'll be at Sprints, come talk to us then, sign up to be a DjangoNot. Our applications officially opened yesterday. Or you can also recommend someone and sponsor them and be like, hey, you'd be good at this. Why don't you try? So you could a sponsorship, you can donate money, time, services. We're happy. Also spread the word. Like I said, share it with folks you know. Also, if you want to offer connection, you can reach out on social. Celebrate with us. Like our posts, share them, and share our content to help expand our network. And so if these are the kind of questions I'm gonna go, I'm not gonna read through them, but they're kind of questions that we will ask

Speaker 1: of navigators and captains to see what their interest is in our organization. Um come chat with us as friends. We'll talk about this stuff. And then as we stand on the shoulders of giants, and as we hopefully grow to become one ourselves, we are going to ask you: you'd be really good at this. Do you want to join us? Thank you.

Speaker 2: We will be taking questions.

Speaker 1: If anybody has them.

Speaker 2: They'll have them. We got some cool people in here. We got some questions.

Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Um very selfish question. How can the DSF best help y'all?

Speaker 1: Ha ha, this is a great question.

Speaker 2: We got some.

Speaker 1: I don't know if this is the place for it, but Um we need somewhere to put our money. It's difficult. And without starting your own nonprofit, that costs thousands of dollars. That's the problem we're running into right now.

Speaker 2: I think

Speaker 3: Let's talk.

Speaker 2: This is a spicy take, but this is a perfect place to put it. Let's turn some heat up. We can get some uh some uh options uh emailed to us. You can find us at contact at jangonaut. space. uh on where we can park our cash. And we got a bit of cash. Thank you to the DSF. You've already been helping out a lot.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you very much. Um a question uh with the experience of your first round What what do you see as maybe the one or two most pluggable gaps that you identified that you'd like maybe help with plugging?

Speaker 2: Yeah. So I think the interesting part is like longevity, right? So we're comfortable with a slower ramp up but we also want to make sure that there's like retention in order to kn make this next generation. Um I was really surprised with some of the like writing opportunities that really came up and sprung forward. It there's a I I think just like software and open source software in general, um, it is uh a lot more uh what is it, fragile than you would imagine it is. It is held together by sometimes tape and glue and um like lots of caffeine in the middle of the night to get something out on time that we have no idea um was could have been lagging otherwise. So I'm really excited about the retention of it

Speaker 2: and not seeing our um more senior Django people uh fade off without being able to pass on that knowledge. And fade off isn't just kind of find other hobbies and like go to retirement happily. Like Start sailing if you'd like. Um and we can have people who really feel comfortable and empowered to do more. Yeah.

Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean we could always use more um navigators because how many we had 200 people sign up for our interest for our next cohort and if all of them those apply like we can only take a certain amount like three or four people per navigator or mentor. So Also like we need mentors, you know.

Speaker 5: Can you say more about retention? Whether you intend for those folks to join new in future as navigators or join Django teams, working groups, stuff like that. Do you have you thought about it a bit?

Speaker 2: If I'm understanding your question correctly, it's more of um uh what is the intention on uh navigators joining and how to get navigators in?

Speaker 5: Sorry, the Django note. How do you intend for them to be to retain within the community? Do you have plans for them to join this program as navigators or do other things?

Speaker 1: So one of the asks from our I um previous cohort was What happens after it? Are we just gonna be dropped? And that's the thing I didn't want to happen because as a learner and someone who's been in similar situations, you want to kind of keep going and keep that momentum. And so we will continue to have them on our Discord and they are going to be invited into all the sessions in the future. Also, the key to this program and its success, what I see as a success, is when a Django Not becomes a navigator. And that's how we keep the community sustainable. That's how we empower leadership of other folks in the community. And that's for me what success looks like.

Speaker 2: And just to add a little more, but that we've talked about it all uh a lot, but we're evolving and we're taking the feedback of the Django Knots every step of the way. So as we keep in contact, we keep them in the Discord, we'll be asking them, what do you need from us and what can make this larger program. Um this in our ideation phase was something that was several years after someone was a Django Girls. just like us, it was made because we had ourselves in mind. Um if there needs to be an intermediate program afterwards, I don't know. That's a really great problem to have because we've identified the problem. So now we can start crafting a solution. So I think it was an excellent question on how do you do retention. And we're measuring it.

Speaker 1: Yep.

Speaker 6: All right. Thank you, everyone. We uh are out of time for more questions. They will answer any questions in the hall. Um yeah, thank you both, John and Rachel.