Person Feel Good

PyCon US 2025 Edition

I wanted to highlight some of my experiences from PyCon US 2025 in a few paragraphs, but every time I started this sentence, I thought of the impossibility of the task, and proceeded to erase it.

I decided to go for it anyway. So let's see what comes out of it...

Fair warning, there's probably a lot I've missed that I wanted to say... Okay... deep breath...

It's kind of odd to think of attending a technical conference as a way to enhance interpersonal relationships. But for me, that's one of my greatest highlights.

I had a chance to catch up with Jay over a cup of Turkish coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

I got to ask Baptiste, who I met at a previous DjangoCon, if he received my Christmas card (he did) and to thank him for the one he sent me (I still have the included origami sitting on my desk).

And there's also that time that he and Yngve tried to poison me with some salty Norwegian licorice. (Fine, I ate it voluntarily... but still!)

I hung out talking with Sharif in the lobby of the Westin until well after 2 a.m. on the night of my arrival, in spite of travel exhaustion. I'm pretty sure we repeated or beat that bed time each night of the convention.

Also had dinner with my conference roommate Evan. At the hotel, we spent an hour or two workshopping his talk for the next day, and he returned the favor—helping me for approximately 2 hours to prepare for my... 5 minute... lightning talk.

I've had the honor of participating in a rag-tag group of booth fairies, responsible for planning, designing, setting up, and running the PSF booth during the conference. One of the highlights, laying helpless and face up on a bean bag, next to Joe. Yeah, we were tired.

Months before the conference, Eric Matthes had planned an outing to the symphony, which materialized on Friday night as quite a musical oasis.

Did you know that you can mix espresso with Orange Juice, for a delightful morning drink? No? Then you must not have met Georgi like I did at the corner coffee shop to try it out. You definitely should try it out!

There was also the full embodiment of several online acquaintances that I generally only catch inside a Brady Bunch-alike screen during Jeff's Office Hours.

Did I mention yet how much in awe I was at how quickly Sarah demolished us during a game of Set? Or that time I played Cabo with someone who legitimately earned the nickname Cabo? Or the hysterical hijinks a group of us got into after a game of Person Do Thing?

That's not counting all the awesome, brand new relationships I made while at the conference.

One evening, six of us were headed to dinner, and I realized that I had only gotten to know each of them within the last day or two—yet it felt like we were old friends at a high school reunion of some sort.

Honestly, as I go through this exercise, I'm noticing that I'm just scratching the surface. I am unable to enumerate each and every interaction that was meaningful to me.

My heart is full. 💗

I haven't shared each and every interaction and conversation that I had at the conference, but each has left an impression on me.

This.

This is a part of PyCon that is hard to explain.

And yes, the evidence is there. I know that the flood of pictures and posts on social media help to infect those unable to attend with FOMO and a tingling of envy... and I totally get it. I missed last year's PyCon due to a knee injury, and I tried my best to live vicariously.

I'm extremely saddened by the fact that many would-be attendees were unable to travel due to the political shit storm in the United States right now, as well as others who just don't have the means.

It's not lost on me that attending an event like this is quite a privilege, and I am grateful to have the opportunity.

But what of the technical parts of the conference?

If I were trying to justify my attendance to an employer, giving off a "cool high school reunion" vibe is probably not the way to do it.

Yet, I can't imagine the conference being as effective without all that I've mentioned above.

I was engaged and challenged by each of the keynote speakers. I attended a handful of talks that delighted me or taught me something new.

I attended community spaces at the PSF booth where I was able to converse with most of the keynote speakers, or engage with Black Python Devs or the Python Asia Organization.

I spent hours working on a five minute lightning talk, because I wanted to condense a lot of content that I felt could be useful to the community.

I hosted an open space which had a lively discussion about ORMs, leading me to think deeper about certain design paradigms and having follow-up conversations with several knowledgeable engineers.

Without a doubt, I was receptive and engaged in these highly technical situations because of the momentum, energy, and inspiration received from the relationship vignettes listed above (as well as MANY others I missed).

What I happened to find at PyCon was a wide array of people that disarmed me, to an extent. Meaning I didn't have to walk around with some pretense, trying to pretend I'm the living embodiment of some half-baked LinkedIn profile.

Instead, I encountered vulnerability, passion, kindness, and brilliance. Within that environment, I was more engaged, receptive, and participatory.

There was a bittersweet melancholy as I was feeling the descent into LAX. While it is definitely sad to disengage from such a fulfilling experience, it is also necessary. I can regulate again and be fully present for my family who I missed a bunch while I was gone.

Now it's time to refresh and recharge.

Hope to see you in Long Beach!