Djangonaut Space Overview and Ask Me Anything

Speaker 1: Cool. So I am Priya, session organizer of Changunaud Space. I have with me Lalian, who is also the session organizer for this session three. We have Sarah Boyce and Rachel and Tim, who are the co-founders as well as the organizers of sessions who would help us in the session as well and have taken the glory of previous Janganath sessions as well. So yes So uh cool, then let's begin. So if you're wishing to leveling up your Chango code contributions or potentially take up the leadership roles, then my friend, you're on the right place. We'd begin with the session overview. The key agenda for today would be

Speaker 1: we'd be beginning with what this program is all about, what are our goals, how the structure of the program looks like, then we'd cover the session timeline for this session three. Eligibility, perks, some past session glimpses, testimonials, and then we'd have the stage open for you all for the questionings So, program overview of Django Nab Space. Django Nab Space is an eight-week group mentoring program designed to ignite your passion for Django. So whether you're just starting out your journey or looking to deepen your knowledge for all things Django, this program offers an incredible opportunity to dive into the heart of Django itself. Explore some amazing third-party packages, or if you're just simply eager to make your mark in the open source world, then DjangoNot

Speaker 1: Space is also here to empower you all What are the program goals look like? Our program is built around three key goals that are deeply connected to the future of Django and also our community. First, we aim to increase sustainability and regular contributions to, of course, Django and other third-party packages. This isn't just about short-term involvement. When I say about longativity, I mean that it's about cultivating a space where members feel encouraged to contribute consistently over time and time and time to come. In their own pace in our semi-structured format, yet with the right guidance at the right time. By fostering this commitment, we ensure the longevity of Django's development

Speaker 1: Second, we are dedicated to providing an actively accessible and inclusive space for our amazing Django Nauts. By making sure that everybody feels welcome, you know, we create an environment where developers from all walks of life can grow, learn, or share their talents, or discuss all things Django basically in and safe and inclusive way. Finally, to secure Django's future, we focus on empowering others to step into leadership roles. How do we do that? We discuss that later on towards the course of our session. All in all, it's through this empowerment and encouragement that we are able to pass the torch and keep the framework evolving with, you know, more and more voices and new innovative ideas driving it forward.

Speaker 1: Now the question comes, how do we achieve our goals basically? So accountability, connection, sponsorship. and inclusivity. These are our four integral themes which we aim to incorporate while wearing the spacesuit in our organization. So these are basically our driving factors. The fuel of a Janganath space rocket, which helps us in achieving our goals The first and foremost is our community thrives on accountability. And we maintain it through weekly catch-ups, which encourage Django Nots to share their progress. You might not be able to understand right now what Django. term is or what other terms that may pop up right now. But don't worry, we'd be covering them all in details.

Speaker 1: You just basically think of Django Not right now as somebody who is enthusiast for the Django framework. So, by weekly catch-ups, we make sure that Shanganauts share their progress, celebrate it, learn to overcome blockers while staying motivated. It's all in all about creating a space where we hold ourselves accountable while supporting each other's growth. To quote-unquote by a previous Django Not, as you can see on my screen I think meeting folks in the community weekly or bi-weekly is a motivator for me. Feels good to share what I am up to and see what works others are doing. We believe that regular commitment always reaps good results and as we say, it's a marathon and not a sprint.

Speaker 1: So it feels good when you get this kind of feedback from your previous contributors. And that keeps us motivated further as well. The next thing that comes is we cultivate connection by recognizing that behind every line of code is a real person. And when I say this, I mean that if somebody has made, let's say, a minor mistake, we should not Say them that okay, you're wrong. We should instead encourage them with you know the right kind of words of encouragement yet, guiding them in the right direction. That way We understand that we are together learning, evolving, and striving. This understanding brings a sense of humanity to our work.

Speaker 1: Which in turn creates a community built on support and empathy by empowering emerging leaders and connecting them with those, you know, shaping the future, we try to ensure that Django's legacies Grows over stronger and stronger over time. The next term is sponsorship. We shine on the light of accomplishments of our Django nauts, connecting them with the experienced professionals or leaders in Django or Python. We organize talks, encourage folks to get involved in Django. We have newsletters for them. We encourage them to write blog posts or simply We encourage them with a little nudge, you know, that hey, the topic you're discussing is really insightful. You should submit it as a talk title for the upcoming conference. Or let's say

Speaker 1: I'm hanging around in the Discord for some open source work, hop in for coffee chat or some co-working sessions, such initiatives. not only help to share the right resources at the right time with the right audience, but also encourages the leadership which might Come in the later stage, and that way the legacy keeps on continuing forward and forward, and at the same time, the reach with the right set of organization is also taken care of The gist is that open source can only open doors of opportunities if your story is shared in an emotionally safe space with the right platform. Another value that we hold really dear is inclusivity. There's an old saying, make

Speaker 1: the space and they will come. But we believe it makes more than creating a space. Active inclusion is far more powerful than passive inclusion. It's about extending an invitation, welcoming people in. And making sure they feel comfortable to join in. We are not enforcing them, we are welcoming them. There's the difference here. When we reach out directly with opportunities that align with their skills and passions The motivation to contribute follows naturally. That's what our principle is. These are just a few practices that keep us moving towards success, both as individuals and also as a group. Now, in this collaborative space, you won't be learning alone.

Speaker 1: Let me introduce you to our little galaxy. You'll be surrounded by like-minded individuals working together, sharing ideas and solving problems. Our Galaxy comprises of Django Nauts, Navigators, and Ctatains. Each team comprises of three Jangonauts working with one navigator and one captain. Now, all this, the term that I've been staring quite a lot, the Jangonaut. You might have the question in mind: who are these Jangonauts? Who they what they do, and what is all this terminology all about? So don't worry. The Django Nauts are passionate contributors to the Django ecosystem. They are dedicated to improving the framework through code, documentation, or community involvement.

Speaker 1: All of you who are here in this session today, I am sure, are definitely Django Nuts in your heart. And we are here celebrating it today. So yes, it's a success already. The next up is navigators. So navigators are the ones who speed up the journey of Django Narts basically, whether it's finding the right tickets, discussing the technical details of contributing to Django or sharing some insightful tips and tricks. Navigators offers the support Django 's need to make meaningful contributions and grow faster and better in the Django Not community, basically. They engage in weekly team meetings that we have as per our structure of the program

Speaker 1: and offer the right guidance through asynchronously or synchronously throughout the program. So basically they serve two roles, coaches and advisors. Remember, they're not your teachers, but they are there with you to help you all along the way. So if you're feeling uncomfortable a bit, it's there'll be it's they would be the one who would welcome you with all open arms and help you to figure out the little detail of the little bug you might be facing for quite a lot of time. So yes. The next up we have captains. Who are captains? Captains are the community managers steering the ship. Yes They work closely with navigators to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Speaker 1: They engage in periodic one-on-one sessions with DjangoNots, offering guidance and support to keep everyone on track. Simply putting in words, they make sure the journey stays on course with the goal in mind and the community thrives while putting those goals in actions. So this is our little galaxy who is working continuously for the Django framework. So with all and all that information in mind , I'm sure you all might have decent idea of who we are and what we are trying to do in this Janganath space. Now the real question arrives. How to apply for Jangonaut space or how to be a juggle not basically. So if you're ready to join the crew and take part in shaping Janganot's future

Speaker 1: or let's say want to confidently contribute or vote for the proposal or join the next working group Or just be a part of a vibrant community where the maintainers or Django fellows are also part of this is your place. Apply now and start your adventure with DjangoNot Space. The session timeline of our mission looks like this. The applications are already open and please keep in mind that they will be closed on September 14, 2024. So go ahead, apply now. What are you waiting for? Of course, yeah, you might be waiting for the session to end and the little AMA towards the end of the session. So yeah mean of course apply it towards the end of the session, but make sure to apply for the program if it feels the right fit for you.

Speaker 1: So keep on in the meantime, keep on sliding the messages you might want to ask to ask me anything, and then we can pick it up later on. The mentorship program for session 3 begins on October 14 and program ends on December 9, 2024. The session projects of this year's session three are Django Core, Django CMS, and Accessibility. We are targeting a topic-based theme this time, so it would be interesting for all of us. So basically the program structure is like you have Django Knots, we have Django Nuts, we have navigators, we have captains, and three Djangouts, one navigator and one captain is allocated to a session project.

Speaker 1: As per your preference or as per the time availability as well. And then accordingly, we take up the projects. There are workbooks of how to contribute to that project, and those basically the team is. The main ones who are committed to taking it to the next level basically or just starting it small by small every step that matters in the contribution. So this is how the session project looks like. So you might have to give it a read of read two which topic suits you the best. So, who can apply basically to be the Chango Not? The eligibility of the program is nothing extraordinary. We just expect you to have basic understanding and experience with Django, Python, and Git.

Speaker 1: Other than that, you must have the availability to commit five hours per week to the program for the complete eight-week session. We understand that if you don't have the right set of time this time Then don't worry, more future sessions would be there and you are welcome to join as per your availability. But this is one of the key factor of our program because we don't want somebody to get involved with it but not be able to contribute it effectively or make use of the program in a good way. So yes, um the other thing is the code of conduct is a crucial part of our program and we expect you to uphold it in the right manner throughout the membership cohort whenever you get whenever you get in.

Speaker 1: So, yes, if you're still wondering why you should apply for being a jango naut, then fret not. I'm here for more interesting perks and some Easter eggs for you towards the end of this session. So yes, books of joining Shanganha space. As mentioned earlier, you have access to exclusive workbooks. There we have tasks and reflections properly designed for you in the right format. And when I say about exclusive workbooks, it covers right from what talk you should hear at what week to how you should start contributing to Django. Or all the from all the documentations to all the contributions, it's a holistic workbook that you would

Speaker 1: hold on to. dear for your all the contributing period of Django. So it's really, really helpful. I've been Django Naught in session one and that workbook is, you know, the golden book that you can hold on to So yes, other things are the team meetings with navigators, the weekly team meetings and one-on-one calls with captains So it's an amazing opportunity when I say that you're talking to the Django fellow or the Django contributor or somebody who's books you used to read about about Django and Django Rad Space is a place where you actually get to talk to them and not just about Django, about their life, about which cat they have or let's say what are their hobbies. So it's amazing.

Speaker 1: It's really amazing. It is a wonderful opportunity to be a part of All our con all our discussions are held on DjangoNot. We have uh an exclusive Discord server where all our communications happen. So it's a good part to be a part of, you know, a community where just things about Django are discussed. So other than that, when it comes to open source, one of the major problem the beginners are stuck in, and not just beginners. I would say everybody is stuck in is when you're on a ticket for a longer duration of time and you just lose the motivation of, okay, I've been looking at this for hours. What should I do next?

Speaker 1: Should I just simply need it? That happens when you're working alone, but when you're working together with the like-minded peers, you get the pointers. Or if you're not you if in even if you don't get the pointers, you get the motivation that okay, let's sit together and contribute it. As a group, so that is a great pointer to help in ticket identification and contributions when you're stuck Other work is to attend insightful talks by experienced guest speakers that we organize throughout the Changonat Space program. And of course, upskilling yourself and gaining visibility in open source matters, as I mentioned earlier as well. Open source might open doors to loads and loads of opportunities, but if you have the right platform.

Speaker 1: And here we are striving to give you the right platform so that you could, you know, level up your skills of Django So yes, and some other Easter eggs, of course. Opportunities are always more to come So we have open office hours, we have peer programming sessions, we have co-writing sessions, we encourage everybody to write blogs together, individual or just social media posts and sharing and celebrating the wins and victories together. So it's the Easter eggs, the little things that brings you joy in your technical development journey Then we encourage folks to also get involved with DjangoNot Newsletters Update and public

Speaker 1: events, conferences, meetups are always, always, always a plus We also have book club meetings where we, you know, read on a few chapters of the book, discuss it together, code on it together, solve the exercises, discuss what we didn't understand. So This has been amazing Easter egg for you all if you wish to join in. Now I've been talking about session three quite a lot that you should apply. You should apply If you're still confused, if you're still, you know, have that hesitation that, okay, I don't have any background knowledge of what you People are doing. So let me introduce you quickly to the session one and session two debrief. In session one, we have 29 PRs opened

Speaker 1: and bravo, we got 23 out of them merged. A few of them were in Django, Django CMS and Django debug toolbar. So yay! Celebratory, celebratory terms. We had 48 weekly team sang, 72 one-on-one calls with captains, and Captains and navigators, again, I am emphasizing that those are the experienced professionals, the leaders of Django Not of Django basically the Django framework where you get access to them to talk one-on-one. And for a beginner, for somebody like me who just stepped into this program Right after my graduation or well, I was in my graduation well when the session one happened. Now I'm yeah, graduated.

Speaker 1: So that's basically amazing for a beginner perspective. You get loads of opportunities around there, you get loads of experience, or just simply talking to them helps a lot. And we had three guest speaker sessions in session one. For session two, more PRs, more contributions, more fun, more engagement, and more skill development, of course. So we had 37 PRs across Django, Django Packages, Django Target, and Unicorn. If you wish to know more about what the contributions were, who were the contributors, or how everything unfolded. Head onto our blogs and give it a read, you'd find amazing insights over there. As mentioned, we had book club meetings

Speaker 1: Again, 110 amazing things. We also have deep space dialogue where we discuss all things Django. Sometimes we discuss all things life as well. So come on. Be the part of the community and make it basically the community you join, but you also enjoy being part of. So some amazing testimonials from our previous Django Nots are, as mentioned, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far , go together. This was given by Rafaela, one of our stars of Chango Not. So yes, we thrive in team building We thrive in working together.

Speaker 1: We thrive in community. So this is a space for the ones who are interested in the same aspect. Another testimonial is from Tashar, a past jangana. He has been past captain. He has been a past session organizer. So this is also the right Increment you are saying. If somebody is being a jangonaut, they have the opportunity to be a captain as well. They might get the opportunity to be a session organizer as well So this is what when I mentioned earlier that inclusivity is one of our key aspects that you welcome them. You have the right You see the right potential, you see an opportunity in your hand that somebody is good enough to be. Part of this, we offer them.

Speaker 1: So this is what active inclusion looks like if I quote it in an example over here over the passive inclusion that okay the volunteering forms are open. Whosoever interested may join in. That might not give it the right key factor to find the right skill set in the right person. So Tashar has the saying that the community is not just people discussing about Django issues. but also folks sharing about their lives. Yes, the little cat pictures and achievements, celebrations, and having some fun random discussions by joining in the Discord voice and house. your day looks like basically. So Welda , one of our previous Janganauts, now

Speaker 1: we refer them as stars who have been part of our previous Janganaut sessions. So there's so the testimonial is from crafting newsletter updates for Django News. Again, the opportunity that they came along while being a part of Django Not Space It sparked joy to contributing to the Django toolbar, the technical skill set covered, and the Django itself. It's been a blast. So basically Right from the content opportunity to the code opportunity in the community. So we have code, community, and contribution all at once. So yes, now it's the time. Scan the QR code, apply for the session, and

Speaker 1: The stage is open for questions basically. So if you have any questions, give us along our way, put them, the queries to the username to Ask Me Anything. And keep in mind that the session is recorded. So please maintain the decorum while. you send your questions, make sure you use the right language while sending the questions. And yes, please don't be hesitant, whatever you have in mind. you want to know about applying for the program feel free to ask this is your opportunity and afterwards do remember to scan this QR code. Okay now the stage is yours

Speaker 2: Hello everybody. Okay, so we got some great questions. Thank you all for sticking around and that was an amazing presentation. Thank you, Priya. That clap. So the first question we have is when do the weekly meetings happen, the team meetings, and how do you handle the different times and countries? Would anybody on the team like to speak to this?

Speaker 3: I can speak to this if you like, Rachel. Go ahead. Uh that's a great question. Um we get applications from around the world, which is amazing, but it does also make it quite complicated as there are uh a lot of time zones to juggle with. Um so currently how this is working is uh when we organize a session, we are uh Creating what those projects are going to be on. We are making sure that we've got the navigators and captains to support the Django for that group. And when we are uh getting these volunteers, we are also trying to gauge their availability

Speaker 3: and what times they would be available to in order to give some some of that synchronous support that that we want to be able to provide in the session. That means that when you you do submit also your uh Django Nor application, you will also give some information about your availability and your time zones. And that will be used in this matching process where we try to create a group the best we can. that will hopefully have a similar range of availabilities to hopefully make sure that these meetings can happen uh this is difficult

Speaker 3: uh but we do do our best so I would say that if you're applying uh if you can be uh realistic but also uh be a little bit flexible with the availabilities that you have so If during this time period it's it's actually a bad time for you, there will be future sessions. Hopefully with this session, if it's if you've got a few availabilities, you know, that then it might be more likely that you're going to be able to be matched with a with a group to make sure those meetings happen successfully.

Speaker 2: Great. Thank you, Sarah. We got a couple other questions coming in. Keep them coming and I'll ask them so everyone can benefit. The next question is, how many dedicated hours do you recommend for a beginner contributor? This person's a developer with a full-time job. Said that they saw a share that it could be hard for us. Does anybody want to take that? I can answer it as well. All right. Priya mentioned a presentation that it's recommended to have five hours. And I've seen this before where some people

Speaker 2: of our participants, and this is not the average of course, but they put like 15 hours, for example, or 20. Some people in some weeks maybe you put less because people have uh different abilities, different experiences, different lives and schedules and and and things outside of contributing as well. So we try to be mindful of that. The five hours is a recommendation as what you can get out of the program best with that. And if you have more time, that's great too. I think that kind of addresses it. Does anyone have anything else to say?

Speaker 4: I I I would add that we do have this is our third session of the year. So if you have a particular busy part of the year for this session, maybe it's worth um waiting for a future one where your schedule isn't so busy because um yeah it can be a little tough if you're juggling like work a job and a family and friends

Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Tim. The next question, and I think that we've had a few different kind of versions of this question is what general level is this program aimed towards? For example, I've been working with Django for 10 plus years and want to contribute versus I'm just starting out on my career and want to build my experience. Anybody on the team?

Speaker 5: I can take that one. Okay. So we do have participants who have a lot of very wide range of experience level. We've had people with 10 years, we've had people starting out. And it's really open to anyone who wants to contribute. There's just so much to learn in Django. No one could know any everything. So there's just so many different areas that you can get involved in and Yeah, it's just a hot to learn. So it doesn't matter what your level of experience is.

Speaker 2: And I would like to add to that that, yeah, kind of like she said, there's things for everyone. So, and you'd work with your team and your navigator. And Captain to try to find a ticket that matches your experience and kind of goals for the program. The next question, uh someone asks, is it okay To only be available for five hours on Saturdays. So what we say is five hours over the week. Most of the program is asynchronous, meaning that you'll work at it as your own time. And so the meetings are the only thing that is at the same time, and that needs to be scheduled with your navigator and another teammate. And they will usually do a poll to see what time works best for everyone, overlapping time zones and availabilities

Speaker 2: And have that 30-minute meeting once a week. Outside of that, it's in the chat. And so you respond and you work when you can. So it's not one block of five hours. It's just a general idea. Great. Thank you for that question. The next question is that we got is how much do I need to know about Python, Django, and Git? And I think this was kind of answered a few different times, but Basically, I want to kind of reiterate that this isn't a boot camp. We expect you to kind of know and be familiar with these because, for example. If you're on the team and you don't know basic git commands, it could hold up the progress for the whole team if your navigator's trying to

Speaker 2: teach those basic things. So you can, if you're not feeling very experienced or very confident, you know, I think on our GitHub we have some links. that you can kind of go over tutorials and things for weaker points of any of those if you need more help. Great. Next question. Let's go to what kind of opportunities does being a Django does being in DjangoNot space provide? um anybody want to take this i think that yeah priya mentioned some of these go ahead

Speaker 1: i again have the slide over here for you for the opportunities it's provides. So basically we have exclusive workbooks, we have team meetings, we have book club discussions, we have communications all in all about Django and Django things and third-party packages. You basically get to contribute to Django, which you might have been planning on for so long that okay, I might not have that much of experience right now that I want to contribute it But you know, nobody knows everything as Lilian mentioned earlier. It's the space, it's the opportunity to get started with Django if you haven't, if it's the opportunity to continue with Django if you're doing it already. So basically everything is covered over here.

Speaker 1: We have other perks such as talks, sessions, we have conferences or meetups. So it's A lot of things that you get by being a part of this program.

Speaker 2: Great, thanks, Priya. I'd also like to add that some of these things and the main point of it is to kind of lift you up in the community, for example, um, writing the Django newsletter that gets sent out to a lot of people in the wider Django community and your name and and your link to your website, for example, would be included in that. So we're trying to brag about our members and lift them up and get them in front of people. And that's that's a benefit of doing those kind of things. So we always try to encourage that. But it's optional. Great. Thank you. Next question is.

Speaker 4: Can I add something to that?

Speaker 2: Oh yeah. Sorry. Go ahead.

Speaker 4: Yeah, so kind of Piggybacking off of what you were saying, there 's currently a longtime contributors in the JegaNot Space Channel organizing a prototype of a package maintainer meeting. And so those are type of things where you can then agree, like join that and get to know people better and learn additional skills and also, you know, get to know other people within the community. And then we also do offer um opportunity grants to attend technical events. And so that's also a really cool thing that we can do.

Speaker 2: Great, thanks. That is important. I'm moving on. The next question I think this one probably is on all our minds as we're getting close to the application deadline is how do you select Django Knots? Would anyone like to take the lead there?

Speaker 3: Oh, Tim, you go.

Speaker 4: I was just gonna say we have a form or a blog post on it. Yeah. But go ahead, Sarah.

Speaker 3: Oh uh now I'm I'm nervous that I won't be as good as the block. But um Yes, so when you fill out your application, there are a number of questions we ask. The team themselves will rate the way that you've answered the question We are looking for uh for you to show that you're motivators, that you have the availability, that you um are going to make the most out of this opportunity. And things like this. So there's a range of those questions.

Speaker 3: Then there's also the matching elements. So after there's this initial kind of um uh application uh rating process we then look at people's availabilities and try and match them to uh the projects that also have availability and also match your preferences and see if we we have a session that works best for you Part of the reason we're doing that is uh you as a jungle note, you're only going to be able to join one session You can apply multiple times, but you will only be a Django naught in one session. we need to make sure that this is the the right session for you

Speaker 3: uh and that you're going to be able to make the most out of it.

Speaker 2: Great. That was a perfect answer. Thank you, Sarah. And if you'd like that in written form, you can visit the blog post I shared in the chat as well. And if you have any follow-up questions, you know, send them my way. Great. The next question I would ask is that we got is why do you all participate in Django Not Space? That's a good one and we could probably be here for hours. I'll let Lillian answer first because I know she's gonna step out soon. Do you want to go ahead?

Speaker 5: Yeah. Okay, so um I think the reason I participate, it has evolved over time as my role changed. So initially I was a Jenga na and I wanted to contribute to Django Core. It seemed like this mysterious thing that was inaccessible and the program. Um gave the resources to make it accessible and gave all the mentorship and the emotional support that I needed. And then I participated. in session two as a captain because I wanted to draw from my experiences to help other people as they go through their journeys. And now I'm participating as an organizer because I want to level up my skills and be able to exercise some things beyond code and make an impact on the community in

Speaker 5: ways that I I might not be able to in other settings. So um yeah, it just it's been evolving and ultimately like I keep coming back because of the people. People are just awesome. It's really positive. It's just It's just been amazing.

Speaker 2: Wow. Who wants that was amazing. Who wants to try to top that? Anyone else on the team would like to talk about? how you got involved. Oh gosh. I can. Short summary is I got involved in Django as a career switcher. A few years ago through Django Girls and similar i if you're not familiar, it's a great uh organization, I'm still involved, but As I grew as a developer, so did kind of my interest in mentorship and training. So yeah, I saw a need for this kind of community um in Django

Speaker 2: for mid-levels uh contributors. People kept saying, why don't we have more diversity? Why Aren't there more people starting out and contributing? Well, let's help them. So if you don't find the community that you need or want, you create it. And so that's kind of what got me here. And I love it. Same as Lilian. I love the people. I love the community They they helped me get into tech and stick around and they've supported me, so I'm here to pay it, pay it back and pay it forward. Um, that's mine, Pim.

Speaker 4: Your answer is pretty much the same as mine. Seeing the the need for more contributors and a more diverse set of contributors. Yeah, the opportunity arose and like Lillian said, being able to affect change, that's pretty great.

Speaker 1: Yes, for me it was basically I joined Fort Django, but as they say I'm staying here for the community. I remember just surfing the internet one day last year and just you know, finding out some initiatives of where I can get involved with Django, how can I contribute to Django? I've been working with Django for quite two years, but for my personal projects, not like proper active open source contributor previously And I saw this Changanath space is something and I just dropped on a GitHub discussion that okay, I want to be part of it. How should I start contributing or how should we be part of it? Little did I know I was like, okay I just drop a text. I might get a reply. I might not get a reply. More on the side is like, okay, this would probably be forgotten. You know, the maintainers of Django, the maintainers of the third party party packages, why would they be replying to

Speaker 1: you know, my little message or my little doubt. But little did I know that within you know just a couple of hours I got a reply from Tim and then I had a mail from Rachel that okay And I was feeling that okay, this is something welcoming. This is an interesting, insightful thing that where we will encourage you, we will support you and Throughout my experience with Django Not Space, since that July late night message to Till date the encouragement, the support, the kind of appreciation, the kind of guidance I have got from Changanath Space. I think this is by far the most safest and emotionally supportive place

Speaker 1: while making technical contributions on the same side. So it's basically the best of both worlds of why I'm still involved with Janganath space.

Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. More, there's another question we have that's kind of a quick one. I'll answer. How many people usually apply to Django Not Space? The past sessions we've had about 150 to 170 people apply. We are only usually, depending on how many volunteers we have for navigators, we're only usually allowed or able to have about 15 to 18 folks that we choose out of there. So it is quite selective. So if this this this round isn't fit for you, we encourage you to try again. And if you have questions, you can reach out to us. And like Priyas had mentioned, it's it's a lot of times about the time zone availability, project match, things like that.

Speaker 2: So do not take it personally. Um great. The next question I'm going to ask Tim is, if I'm not selected, how can I participate in the community?

Speaker 4: Yeah. Uh so there's the number of like the online communities. There's the forum, there's um the the Django Discord, there's various events around the world. Um There's also working groups within the DSF, which I guess I'll have to go find the link for. The other thing I want to point out is you could do what Rachel did and identify like, hey, there's this thing that I want to go do and then just make the community yourself. Um it's That's always welcome. And it can be scary. The other thing you could possibly do is if you just need a co-working buddy, you could post in one of the areas saying, hey, I want to start working on Django. Does someone just want to meet up every month or every other week, you could do it that way.

Speaker 4: Um yeah. Also participating on social media like Twitter and or X and Mastodon, there's a really strong following of Django and Python people on Mastodon where you can be injected in the conversation really quickly.

Speaker 2: Great. That was a great answer. Thank you. And also, like he was saying, volunteer creator spaces. One of our past Django Nats created a community in Egypt for Django. Some of ours are also volunteering and um various conferences organizing and that's a great way to network and meet people as well and get your name out there. Great. The next question that we have is I'd like, oh okay, this is from a different kind of perspective. So I'd like to be a captain, navigator, session organizer, or a volunteer. How do I do that? That's a great question. Sarah, would you like to take that one?

Speaker 3: Boy, do I. Um, right, so uh I believe we have a uh form where you can express interest to uh be a captain or a navigator. You can also send the organizers a an email. I think that's contact. janganot. space, something like this, maybe I'm wrong. We will I'm sure someone will correct me in the chat if I am wrong. And we will reach out to you at some stage. So essentially before During the process where we're planning the next session, we reach out to people who have

Speaker 3: expressed interest that they can volunteer and we check whether they will be available in this kind of time periods and whether they're still interested. So just so you know, if you if you volunteer once, it doesn't mean that you're locked in for life and that you need to be a captain for every session going forward. We will check in whether this is something you want to do, whether you want to do it again. And then yeah, and then we do uh a bit of a process where we uh uh have a uh an interview where we just uh check that you understand what you're volunteering is for whether this is going to be a good

Speaker 3: fit for you and we give you feedback within a fairly short time period as to whether uh you're going to do that role for the next session So we need volunteers. Please, please do reach out. It helps enormously. increases the amount of uh the capacity that we have for more Django Nuts to be involved in in sessions. And Yeah, the organizers are very happy to answer questions around this, so please do reach out and apply. Tim, you go

Speaker 4: I I want to um expand on that for navigator volunteers. I I could imagine the question is, I contribute to a library, but I'm not the maintainer. Can I Could I do that as a third-party project? General answer is probably yes. Like the minimum that you need to be able to do is help people identify easy tickets and then help them get acquainted with the library and answer basic questions. You don't necessarily need to have like the permissions to release it. It's probably a good idea to get approval from whoever's maintaining it in case you know you generate a lot of PRs or a lot of issues and you overwhelm them. But generally, yeah, if you have the basic knowledge of a third-party library can answer questions and identify which tickets are going to be easy. That would be

Speaker 4: that's the minimum bar for a navigator for us.

Speaker 2: Great. Sorry, thanks. I was just getting the next one up. And yeah, please volunteer and get in contact if you'd like to. I see some. Yeah, um let me see. Next question we have is, how do you measure long-term success? Have you seen that? I think that someone already kind of spoke to this Priya. Would you feel comfortable kind of going over that again, like what that looks like for us?

Speaker 1: Yeah. Long-term success. When I say when we say long-term success, it's usually, you know, measuring that in the little milestones that we have. You cannot see that, okay. Today to down 10 years of line, we'd take the graph of Django from here to here. But long-term success looks like, okay, from today to the next six months how the program is helping it with the success of Django. So basically it's the time commitment, it's the it's people Who have started it, but let's not leave it midway. We want people to stay connected with us. We want people to stay connected to the roots of Django. So measuring long-term success Goes again on the four principles that I mentioned: the accountability, inclusivity, sponsorship, and

Speaker 1: Of course, the connection that comes along with it. So measuring that long-term success is on those pillars, is on the sustainability and the encouragement that comes along with it. So, yes, that's how we measure long-term success. We don't measure long-term success with okay, let's say we have 1001 PRs to Django. That is a success. But long-term successes, are those people happy and still? eager to contribute to the next 1001 PRs. So that is what the long-term success to us looks like.

Speaker 2: That's a perfect answer. Thank you. I I would also like to add that Priya being here and Lillian joining us and another manual, he's not here, but um joining as session organizers is a is a kind of proof of our long-term success, that pipeline of Django knot to to captain to session organizer to creating Leaders in the community and having people stick around and wanting to stick around and spend their free time doing this. Also Tim kind of mentioned that what in Django 5. 1, let's all get ready to clap, 17 contributors from our community. uh are have have have PRs in Django 5. 1, yay. Like that's 8% of the contributors.

Speaker 2: So that's a pretty pretty good indicator as well. Great. The next question I'll take, it's kind of um a smaller one. So it's like I'm not, and this has come up before, so I wanted to address it. I'm not a native English speaker. What level of English do I need for the program? We would love to have various languages and tons of, but but um we're not there yet, yet. So for now the meetings will be in English, and so if you're comfortable discussing code debugging and issues related to that in English with your in your team setting, you should be fine. But we leave that up to the person applying, the applicant, to define that for themselves.

Speaker 2: Yes, let's see, we got another one coming in. How do you select the projects that we will work on? That's a great question. Thanks for asking. Does someone want to take that?

Speaker 4: I I think this is a pretty quick one. It's uh who we can get navigators for. It that's that's navigators are definitely our bottleneck and our pipeline here. Um so yeah, if you are working on a library, reach out.

Speaker 2: Yes. So we try to find the volunteers first, and then we their that their projects that they're working on will kind of tailor around that. Next question is also a kind of quick one. I'm not available for this session. How often are the sessions organized? When will be the next one? We usually have done Well, this is our first year kind of we're completing a year of sessions and we've had this will be our third this year. So I anticipate that It'll be either two or three depending on availability of volunteers and things like that. But again, people need to volunteer and kind of replenish and refresh the the community. So it's also dependent on Potentially you all.

Speaker 2: Yes. And oh, this is a great one. This is I think we'll kind of make this the last one, and I'm gonna ask this for Sarah. Can you describe uh kind of like what it like a summary of the program of like what we do? For example, someone starts. And and kind of like what the team meeting looks like in that, from the like how your interactions are with the navigator.

Speaker 3: Oh great question. Okay, so You okay, congratulations. You are a juggernaut on Jjangonaut space and you have a a navigator, you have a captain, you have a project. What will initially happen is we actually start with week zero. So we have a prep week where we're just making sure that we get everybody Into the Juggernaut Space Discords that everybody will then join that community. You will be encouraged to introduce yourself So you create this nice hello message and it's quite a beautiful

Speaker 3: start to the session because you see all of those jango nuts trickle in and everybody will start engaging with you and asking you about uh you know the different things that you've mentioned in your introduction. So maybe some interesting experience you have, whether you're into we've we've mentioned cats too many times. I want to say something else. That you have that you're an ultimate frisbee player or something like this And then what will happen is your navigator is going to be trying to organize the first meeting with you. This will start happening weekly. It's likely that we aim to have that as a repetitive meeting so that they don't have to rearrange the meeting every time.

Speaker 3: So your navigator and your and the jungle knots in your team are going to be, you know, so these little admin things are happening in in this first week. You're also going to have access to your workbook, which means you can see the different resources that has been Suggested week by week to give you uh a bit of a taster of things that you could be doing. I would say with the workbook, it isn't a um It isn't mandatory that you go through every single resource and make notes and all this kind of stuff. It's more meant to be inspirational so that you can uh see about what different stuff is out there and that you can uh keep yourself engaged as much or

Speaker 3: as little as you want to Your captain should also be reaching out to you and saying hello and letting you know that they're going to be organizing one-to-one with you on a on a bi-weekly basis. So they're going to do a bit more of a personal check-in where you can share some things that perhaps you didn't feel comfortable saying in a in a larger group. We will also have a welcome intro kickoff meeting with the whole of the uh Django Nuts and the volunteers for that session. That will make sure that we go through some also admin communication stuff to make sure that you know what's going on

Speaker 3: will also be covered in that session. Then it's pretty much kicking off. So in in the uh perhaps the first half of the session, the main thing you're aiming for is getting some kind of some kind of win, you're going to try and find something that you can contribute to, some place you can make some impact and feel like you've had a success. you your navigator will also be helping you with that. So perhaps they've already got some tickets in mind that they think might be suitable And you can also be finding some yourself. So perhaps you have some slightly different interests and you can also be looking at stuff and trying to contribute where appropriate.

Speaker 3: Once you're working on that, you're talking about your progress in these weekly meetings and uh any blockers that you have, and hopefully you're uh making sure that you know what is the next step for you. So perhaps. You need to you've got some , you've written a test and now you need to figure out a fix or something, or it's missing the docs, or it's missing something else and hopefully your uh navigator will make sure that you're aware of what what still needs to be done here and uh yeah guiding you through that Yeah, and throughout the session, there's going to be little opportunities to get involved in the other ways that you can contribute to the community.

Speaker 3: So Perhaps you want to write one of the updates to Django News. Perhaps you want to join one of the social sessions that we have. And you can engage in all of that. And we encourage you, you too, because part of the main benefit I would say It's like you're gaining access to a community of people who really want you to succeed and to find what is really the stuff that you're interested in. Okay, and then oh you go.

Speaker 2: Sorry. No, I was just gonna kind of add on to that that you you're gaining access and this kind of ties into some a question someone else had that I wanted to slide in here. before he finishes after my eight-week program do i still have access to the community resources discord channel etc and the answer is yes you do once you're in you're kind of in sorry to interrupt but it fit there so

Speaker 3: no perfect um So yes, and then it's you're in a bit of a rhythm. So you have your your weekly meeting, you have your uh check-ins with the captains. You will also have that the session organizers are going to Every now and again just double check that everything is happening as it's supposed to. So that's just a safety net just in case Uh, I don't know, perhaps your captain for some reason, maybe they were sick and we we weren't aware or something and they've not they've not reached out. So so there's there's other stuff that will happen just to make sure that you get the most out of the session that that and the experience that we want you to get. There are also a couple of guest speakers that we organize during the session. So The past couple of sessions we've had two speakers

Speaker 3: , which means some community member who is usually quite um uh uh fantastic comes and does some presentation about a topic that they think uh is going to benefit you and you get to listen to this uh talk you get to ask questions, you know, it's it's actually a fairly small, fairly intimate group, I would say, that you get access to that that talk and to engage with the speaker and ask the questions that you want to ask. Hopefully by this point you feel pretty safe with the community in terms of asking those kind of questions. And then it's that's pretty much it.

Speaker 3: So you you you will uh come towards the end of the session. By the end of the eight weeks, we hope that you you feel like you've achieved what you wanted to achieve. So you've proven to yourself that you you you can do it, that you can contribute to you to these packages packages if you want to. You may even feel like you could help other people to to contribute to these packages. And then you get uh you then graduate essentially and you you you're no longer a jangana and you're a star in janganot space. So yes you still have the access to the Discord, you still have the access to uh the resources that we shared um and then you're just paying it forward. So next session that starts You're also there with the people welcoming,

Speaker 3: saying, you know, introducing themselves and they're all shy and you're like, oh amazing, and and you're then engaging and and the cycle continues. So that's roughly what you should expect.

Speaker 2: Great. Thank you. That was a very that was very detailed and helpful answer. Thanks, Sarah. No, I love it. Great. I'll pass to Priya to kind of finish us off. Thank you all.

Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for joining in. It was an amazing questioning and answering, of course, to all the lovely queries we have. It was great to look the time to be a part of the conversation that we all have had. Thank you so much for joining in. Hope we see your applications if you haven't applied already or we hope to see and cross our paths in the Jangunaut community soon. So please go ahead, apply We are always, always, always there to help you out with any queries that you may have. Feel free to email them and send them our way. We'd reply them as soon as possible. We are there, go ahead, check out our socials. We are really quite active around there.

Speaker 1: So yes, see a little glimpse of how the previous sessions unfolded, of what ideas you might have if you want to volunteer. what experience that you have if you want to be a navigator or what knowledge you want to share if you want to be a captain someday or but right now the applications for Chango Nuts are open so yes Let's get ready to launch the rocket of the Django server. So, yes, go ahead and thank you for joining in today. Hope to see you soon.