Lacey Henschel - DjangoCon US 2024 Perspectives

Speaker 1: I'm in Durham, North Carolina for DjangoCon US, getting some of the perspectives of different attendees across the conference. And with me is my good friend. And I believe this is definitely not your first Django Con. Everyone, this is Lacey Henschel. Lacey, how are you doing?

Speaker 2: I'm doing really well. How are you doing?

Speaker 1: I'm doing good. How has DjangoCon been for you so far?

Speaker 2: It's been really, really lovely. It's been a couple of years since I've been to a Django Con. Um this is like you said, not my first Django Con rodeo, but I have been a little less involved the last few years, so it feels really good to to be back. I was thinking Austin too. I think one of my first Django Cons was back in Austin.

Speaker 1: So you've you've been you've been Django conning throughout, you know, pre-pandemic. Right into the pandemic and then putting out post pandemic. Um how would you compare those? Is it are we getting back to that the swing of those things

Speaker 2: I think we are. I think we are. Um I wasn't as involved in the directly bo post-pandemic years, but I know that DjangoCon worked really hard to do a virtual event, but it does feel really good to be back in person. Um, no shade to virtual conferences, but I I really love the in-person experience. There's something so valuable about being in a room with people, being able to have those in-person conversations. Um and you just you just get a different perspective whenever you're in person, you know.

Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense. Like what what is your favorite part? of the conference. Like I know some people are like big talks people and some people are like hallway track, you know, forever. Um what's the thing that that stands out to you?

Speaker 2: You know, I I think in my earlier Django Con years, I would have said the talks, and that's still true. I still think the talks are really valuable, but I've become more of a hallway track person. And part of that is is because of the nature of the work that I do now. Like part of it is I I wanna have these conversations with the other open source developers that are here or the other people who run different kinds of businesses that are here. Those conversations are really valuable to me in the work that I do. But also as someone who's involved in the community, that's how I learn what the community needs. That's how I learn what's what is on other people's minds whenever they're coming to DjangoCon or what keeps them from coming to DjangoCon or things like that.

Speaker 1: Yeah, we had like an unofficial open space earlier today and like that was really cool to get the different perspectives of like package maintainers, some who were like, you know, helping develop Django Core and then other folks who are like Django forums and then people like me who aren't doing anything, you know, in terms of code in the Django project at all, but have other packages. I think it it is really cool to get that different perspective. of folks. Um have you met anybody new that, you know, had like a an interesting story or like way to bring in themselves into the community?

Speaker 2: You know, earlier I gave a lightning talk about a new initiative that I'm part of called Django Commons, where we're trying to recruit other Django packages to be part of a sort of GitHub umbrella organization that will give them some infrastructure for their projects. And I have had some other people come up to me as a result of that lightning talk to tell me about their projects and ask if I think that it would be a good fit for Django Commons. And of course my answer is like Check it out. You tell me. You know, like you you tell me if you think that you would be a good f fit for us. That that's what we're here for, is to welcome you. So

Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome. What do you ever like come to DjangoCon with like a specific mission. Like I wanna get this specific thing out of Django Con.

Speaker 2: No, I don't. I I really think that I have the best time at Django Con whenever I come with an open mind and open ended conversations. The exception is whenever I'm giving like a conference talk, then clearly the mission is to give a talk and to do my exactly. Like make it through the talk and then relax, you know. Um but no I I really feel like I have the best time at Django Con whenever I just sort of show up and see where the conversations take me, um, see who wants to go to dinner, you know, like in the in the evenings and it's Those those personal conversations, those personal moments are the most special thing about Django Khan and what keeps me coming back.

Speaker 1: Have there been some other talks that have just kind of stood out?

Speaker 2: Yeah. Um I I always really enjoy the talks that are less about code, you know? Um So this year I really enjoyed Tim's talk on kind of how to handle your financials with your new developer salary Um Mario's keynote this morning. I always love a good English major talk. Yes. Um one of my favorite Django Con talks was probably like 13 or 14 years ago, and I can't remember who gave it, but it was about um the title was the Long Now, and it was about an eternal clock. And I don't even remember the technical details. I don't remember how it connected to Django. It was just a really beautiful moment about a very interesting project. And I love those moments, you know? Like it's The

Speaker 2: the more technical presentations are wonderful and those are really useful for people, but I really love those those more human moments at DjangoCon.

Speaker 1: I think it is really interesting in that DjangoCon is one of those conferences where I feel like You go in wanting to learn more about Django and you come out like learning how to be like a better well-rounded developer in many ways. Like sure some of the talks are very specific. I think there was a talk earlier earlier that I saw on like different like post GIS tools and I'm like, I'm not in the post-GIS space, but there were tools that were being used that You know, GIS is just one of the ways that they could be used. So I, you know, I add more tools to my arsenal there, but then all of a sudden I'm also having those conversations around management and I agree. Like I think sometimes just the people in the room, like, how much does it cost to get like core maintainers, managers, CTOs, you know, directors of technology?

Speaker 1: all in a room sharing their knowledge. I think there's there's such a value in that and everyone is just so willing and passionate about helping.

Speaker 2: And it's so neat too to see in the the lightning talks again see the interesting projects that people are doing. You know, there was um someone gave a lightning talk about I I think it was called nano Django. Oh wow. And it was it was but how to do Django in a single file, but in a different way that the people have been trying to do this for fifteen years, but in a in a different way, you know, than they have been Or someone else who um has finally made Django work with MongoDB in the way that they really needed it to. And that involved like rewriting the sequel into whatever syntax that Mongo uses for literally each kind of query. Oh wow. That's an incredible amount of work. And just to hear someone talk about about that That kind of mission, that sort of personal project that they they did for their work, but they did it because they were really excited about it.

Speaker 2: And it was something that they could have really used five or six years ago. That's that's really wonderful too, to hear people really proud of solving their own problems but also wanting to share that with other people to help solve other people's problems too.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and and I guess you know for those watching, one thing I love about Um the Python community at large, but especially the Django community, is that I don't I don't think I've ever really had someone go, that's a waste of time. Like that's never really been a thing that's said. It's always like, oh, that's interesting. Like Tell me more about like the problem that you're trying to solve or or hey you should check out this other package because I think they're trying to do something similar and maybe y'all can either join forces or you could learn from what they're doing or maybe adapt something that they're doing to better fit your needs Uh I don't you know, it's it's always impressive when you you hear about these like gigantic feats that are happening and then it seems like they came out of nowhere when we know like the reality is is like The person's probably just been like working on it quietly behind the scenes. Um and of course, you know, being in the open source community, there's always that invitation to get involved.

Speaker 1: Um and honestly like the sprints. Are you are you looking forward to the sprints?

Speaker 2: I am looking forward to the sprints.

Speaker 1: What are you sprinting on?

Speaker 2: I have no idea. I have no idea. I have some ideas. I'm hoping that it will be some Django Commons stuff. It would be It would be nice to um to maybe do some some contributions to something in the Wagtail space since I've been doing some Wagtail recently. Um but yeah I would really mostly just like to hang around on Thursday and and be helpful. I I generally don't do a lot of code sprinting at DjangoCon, even though I enjoy the sprints. And that's been my role in the Django community for as long as I've been a member of the community. I do less code as part of my contribution. My contribution is much more related to organizing the events or helping the community or doing the more people stuff. You know, I've I like writing code. I write code for my job just the way many of us do.

Speaker 2: But where my real passion and joy is for the Django community is in the other people. And so I will spend my time on Thursday probably talking to people, hopefully helping them, hopefully helping them figure out um what they would like to do with Django next.

Speaker 1: Well speaking of other people, what would you tell our friends here like about coming to DjangoCon?

Speaker 2: Oh, I would say it especially if you've never been to a tech conference before or if you've never been to a Django Con before, it can be a little intimidating. You're in this room with these people that you've heard of that have developed these packages that you use every day. But the best thing to do is just talk to people, sit down at that random table at lunch. hang out in the lobby after the last talk, figure out who's going to dinner. It is an incredibly welcoming community and my best times at Django Con have always been the times that I did not schedule, the times that I I didn't have it as a plan to go to dinner with this group of people, but I wound up there anyway. And well that's how you and I became friends, right? As I think a couple of years ago we went to dinner at DjangoCon, you know? So it's it's that's how you build these these lifelong connections and friendships and and also do some really valuable networking.

Speaker 1: Definitely. So if you want valuable networking or at least a really good dinner Like I definitely encourage you to join us next year for DjangoCon US 2025. You're invited to join us there. Um we hope to see you there. But until then, I've been Jay Miller, and with me is my wonderful friend Lacey Henschel. Lacey, thank you so much for taking time to to talk to our friends.

Speaker 2: No problem, thank you, Jay