Simon de la Rouviere

A few months ago I got wind that there will be a PyCon in South Africa, right on my doorstep in Cape Town! Python, being my current programming poison of choice, I was rather excited.

My perception of how well a first PyCon South Africa could go was a bit pessimistic. Well, I wouldn’t say pessimistic, more realistic. The South African tech community is growing, and with it is some growing pains. We try to emulate the big players, succeed here and there, but mostly have fun along the way. For the first PyCon in South Africa (and Africa for that matter), I would’ve been okay if there were some hiccups and not so great speakers. If at the very least I could just meet and mingle with some other cool Python developers it would’ve been great.

I was proven completely wrong. It was a blast. Professional, and had really great talks from international and local speakers.

Not only were core developers of PyPy, Django and Flask there (amongst others), but our own local folks provided incredible talks!

I really enjoyed Simon Ratcliffe’s talk on the KAT-7/MeerKAT/SKA satellites and how they are using Python throughout their architecture to peer far back into the universe. Simon’s colleagues even demoed how through IPython they could control the KAT-7 telescopes straight from the conference venue! It was amazing to see.

It was also great meeting Alex Gaynor (Django core developer) and Armin Ronacher (creator of Flask). I wouldn’t be where I am today with their contributions to the Python community! 

In the end. Two thumbs up! Had a really great experience. Looking forward to next year!

Getting coffee with Jason, myself and Jacques. Get more photos here at Praekelt’s page.