Aman Singh - DjangoCon US 2024 Perspectives

Speaker 1: We're in Durham, North Carolina for DjangoCon US 2024, getting the perspectives of different conference attendees, whether it's their first conference or their 20th conference. We want to know the advice that they could bring to maybe you who's considering attending for the first time. And with me is uh my friend and like longtime friend now, like multi-year Attendee Aman. Aman, how's it going?

Speaker 2: Uh it's going really well.

Speaker 1: When did we first meet? It wasn't the last Django Con, was it? Or was the one before?

Speaker 2: I think it was. It was the last one. Yeah, that was my uh first uh Django Con right here in uh Durham

Speaker 1: Awesome. And you're you're local to the area or?

Speaker 2: Uh no, I actually uh flew in from Providence, uh Rhode Island.

Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. So wow, like Oh, I guess the year before that it was in San Diego. So like a cross country flight versus like a few hours down the road the same time zone, I'm sure that's probably a little bit more convenient, right?

Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one of the reasons uh I decided to come uh to this one last year, because it didn't uh seem like a as big of a an investment uh on my part. Yeah that

Speaker 1: later

Speaker 2: risk.

Speaker 1: That is one of the things that we talk about, you know, or I guess we don't really talk about all that much, is kind of the the cost of these conferences. You know, unfortunately they are conferences that you The tickets do cost in the hundreds of dollars and that can be kind of a a barrier for some folks. Um on the plus side, I think that there that the community has done a lot to At least try to make attending like possible, um, within a certain budget Um I know they've done things like have you done any of the stuff where like I know people who have like Airbnb 'd together. Um some people apply for the opportunity grant where like the like DEFNA the Team that puts together DjangoCon where they will off

Speaker 1: they will actually pay uh sometimes partial, sometimes in full for travel and lodging and and other things. Um have you actually been able to take advantage of any of those opportunities?

Speaker 2: Uh no, actually I've been really fortunate because I'm able to come through work. Okay. So they handle all the accommodations, uh luckily.

Speaker 1: No.

Speaker 2: Uh but I I did notice when I was uh buying the tickets that it was great to see those options there because I know not everybody has that uh opportunity. So Yeah, for me it was uh like it was it was just uh really heartening to see that uh there's such an effort made to get everybody that wants to come to be able to get here.

Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, I mean, you know, this is unfortunately the last year that's gonna be in Durham, so uh I mean, maybe Providence could be could be a an opportunity. Yeah, I mean I I think they have that process for um suggesting uh a venue or a town and I I I believe it's passed at this point, but I think that is one of the things that uh folks tend to miss is, you know, bringing a Django Con to a town. Like let's let's talk about Durham itself. Because I mean we've we've gotten ice cream a couple of times, you know, we've we've walked around the town and um wha what has been your like What has been your thoughts on just Durham as a city, but then also like how Durham has kind of treated us as a conference

Speaker 2: I've had a really positive experience uh last year and this year. Um I remember I think the food has been kind of a highlight for me. Um I'd like to try out different restaurants, especially local places. So from that point of view it's been great Um and the fact that the conference is in the same place as this hotel as well. Uh it's been nice. We had uh like uh thunderstorms and rain uh a couple uh yesterday I think and then um yeah it was nice just to be able to show up here. So Yeah, it's been and it's like a lot of artwork around the uh area. So it's been uh it's been pretty positive for me.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I've noticed that Django Cons tend to they try to find like a hotel that they can attach to that kind of eliminates the need of people having to call, you know, cabs and walk a bunch. And I mean Durham itself very walkable city. You know, it's a especially like the downtown area. I believe my watch has like been like, hey, you're doing something different all of a sudden. So it's always good to see that. But let's let's turn our thoughts a little bit more to the conference itself. What has been one of the highlights of this year for you in terms of a conference?

Speaker 2: It's hard to pick just one thing, but I would say there's uh there was one talk in particular that really stood out called Finding 2. 0 Um where they related uh in software you have versioning uh and it seems like a big deal to get to 2. 0. Uh but the speaker was able to tie it to uh personal development as well. And uh the the idea behind a 2. 0 uh number is like it's a big change, it's a breaking change, uh not fully compatible with the old. Um so obviously that's a big deal in software because you don't want things to break, but in personal life too, uh if you're thinking of uh making a big change uh there's never gonna be a perfect time. Uh and there's gonna be some pain and you're gonna break, uh some backwards compatibility in a sense. So but I think uh having gone through a process where I improved my life significantly by making that kind of a change

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: A few years back that really resonated with me. So I think a lot of people will find a lot of value from that one.

Speaker 1: Yeah, as a career changer, um, you know, someone who's gone from the military to like general IT to leaving IT to going into, you know, developer and developer advocacy type work, I I definitely look at it like, you know, hey you you pick up from some of the previous things, but you really do have to kind of I don't want to say like completely shift your mindset, but you have to like Try to like think a little differently like you know the company that I work at we like to say things sideways. Um so you you're kind of like this is how I normally normally like process things, but maybe I like try a different approach to it Um and and just having, you know, personal experiences. A lot of the talks this year have really been like, I mean, usually talks are fueled by personal experience, but like these have been talks that have like

Speaker 1: Kind of tapped into like the psychology um behind some of those experiences a little and like I I think I've I've the first time I've heard of like Lacan being used in a talk, which is really wild, but uh really cool. And and it's interesting that you get that at a conference about a web framework and not like I mean you don't have to go to like the National Society for like personal embetterment or something. Um but you can go to DjangoCon and learn how to do things like end-to-end testing or do or like learn about the history of the web framework but also get resources into maybe becoming a better web developer or maybe a better community member as well.

Speaker 2: Yeah, there was actually uh another one that stood out I didn't get to attend, but I'll be watching online. I think it was from Tim uh about how to handle a high salary if you get into if you make it into the IT world Yeah. A lot of folks don't know how to handle their finances necessarily uh at that level either. So it's really interesting. It's it's focusing on like the conference as a whole, uh having developing the the person, not just uh their technical skills, which are Obviously important, but it's not the whole story.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Definitely definitely ties into the like in order for Django to be a better you know, web framework, you need a better community. In order to have a better community, you have to have better individuals. And it's not like better as in like the current ones are bad. It's just like the constant seeking of improvement, you know, in the individuals themselves.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's uh that's really tough to uh write like a handbook for because everybody has different experiences. So I think that's another um strength that really stood out to me Uh 'cause it's a global community. Um so actually last year my my first uh experience here was meeting three folks uh from outside the country. Uh and then like at the breakfast table the next person was from Italy. So it was like, oh it took a while to meet somebody that was actually local. So that was but yeah, it's uh I think that's that that that's a huge asset, uh getting all those perspectives in.

Speaker 1: Definitely. Was there like a an interaction maybe in the hallway or like around town that you had this year that kind of stood out for you?

Speaker 2: Um this year, let's see. Yeah, I think I was uh I just sat down for breakfast, um, just to ask somebody if they mind it. So far nobody's minded. Uh if I just

Speaker 1: Everyone's like yes it out.

Speaker 2: Yeah and I was like it's always weird for me to start a conversation, but uh I think it started like we I just mentioned coffee and then from there we just started talking about food. So It was it was really cool that I didn't have to it didn't feel forced and I didn't feel awkward, so that that just kinda resonated. Because usually there's a little bit of hesitance for meeting a stranger, but it was uh It was pretty easy from day one.

Speaker 1: Definitely. Well, unfortunately this is gonna be the last year, uh at least for a while that DjangoCon's gonna be in Durham. Um is there something in particular that you would like to see in terms of the next place?

Speaker 2: I think the the location and kind of a downtown area where people don't have to uh just kind of take Ubers everywhere.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: Uh that would be really cool and somewhere w where there's a diversity of um uh just people and like the food. Um so I was able to try Indian food. We had Mexican the other day. So it's like I think it'd be nice if it's uh if it has that kind of diversity uh wherever we go.

Speaker 1: I'm I'm always down for diverse food and diverse people. Like I think I think like The combination of those are great. Like I think one of the highlights for me this year has been um having people try sweet tea for the first time. Yeah. Uh you know, in the South, like I grew up in the South, so I'm like very, very used to it, but I know that like It is a very southern thing to have like very sweet tea.

Speaker 2: Actually that that reminds me uh for the lunch food here that that's also been really good and they had I saw okra, I'm like, oh I'm not used to seeing that. Yeah, like for someone's like Yeah, that's someone's like, oh you're in the south, I'm like, oh that's right. But uh in India we have uh that's where I'm originally from. We have like uh an Okradesh, it's one of my favorites, but I I just don't see that uh usually around the US.

Speaker 1: That's awesome. So I mean I guess like wherever that new place is going to be, we're hoping that we can get some some new faces. Maybe you'll be happy to join us. Um what advice would you give to someone that's maybe considering going to DjangoCon for the first time

Speaker 2: I'd say it kind of depends on your situation. So if you're able to come through your work, it seems like a no-brainer. Um I was able to learn so much and uh the companies sent me back this year just because uh they got value out of it last year. Um so that that's an easy one. So if you can go uh and it'll be your fi uh like your accommodations will be handled, just uh t uh just take a chance. And then uh if you're just really hesitant because you feel like you're not uh uh a Django expert or you're not like a real programmer, quote unquote, um I would say go for it because I wasn't really I didn't consider myself a programmer uh especially last year. And I hadn't even uh made a Django project last year when I got here. I was able to come here because I was interested in Python.

Speaker 2: Um and then I came here and then the community was incredibly supportive. They walked me actually through making my first PR on uh on a public GitHub repo. Welda walked me through that. So I was like that that's where I started. I had no knowledge. But uh since then I've been able to make a couple of Django projects. Um so yeah, I think that's uh if you're if you're hesitating because you feel like you're not technical enough, it's not a big deal. You just kind of show up uh people see where you're at and then um they'll they'll give you uh the support you need to uh to learn whatever you need.

Speaker 1: Oh that's great. Yeah I I think that that it's amazing that you're like Um you you tend to forget like what it's like to be the first timer at an event um and also not have like a ton of experience to like you know, have behind you as well. And I think having people that are super eager to help, super eager to say, hey, like I can walk you through that if you if you need any you have any questions. Um and that's that tends to be the experience that I've gotten just as a Python developer in the Python community, but especially in the Django community.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and I would say the other thing is also keep in mind it's a very relatively small conference compared to say PyCon US. I think that was about three thousand people. This is more like

Speaker 1: a ten

Speaker 2: uh deaf uh last time I went was about 30,000 people, so it's harder to make any connections there.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: But here you see some of the same folks, so you can Um have some conversations, bounce some ideas. So it's a lot it facilitates that the smaller size.

Speaker 1: Well awesome, and hopefully I hope with that advice you'll join us for DjangoCon US 2025. But uh if you're watching this, I mean you're probably watching this on our YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe and like this video so that we can get it out to more people and encourage them to join us for DjangoCon US for the first time next year Um Aman, thank you so much for helping with this interview, but also just being like a friendly face in the last two years of Django Cons and other events that we've we've caught each other at.

Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for uh welcoming me and uh just showing me that uh the community actually cares. So it made it real easy.

Speaker 1: Absolutely, and we'll hopefully see you at the next DjangoCon US. Take care.