Exploring PyCode Conference 2018

“I CERTAINLY didn’t set out to create a language that was intended for mass consumption,” says Guido van Rossum, a Dutch computer scientist who devised Python in 1989. But now, nearly three decades on, his invention has overtaken almost all of its rivals. By now, its avid practitioners, known as Pythonistas, have uploaded 145,000 custom-built software packages to an online repository that cover everything from game development through web applications to astronomy.

The popularity of the Python language is reflected in the number of great Python-related meetups and conferences. We had a chance to discover and support a brand-new event called PyCode Conference. The first edition of the meeting was held on 1-2 October 2018 in Warsaw in Copernicus Science Centre which is fantastic and very professional. Of course, it was an excellent opportunity to meet a group of new like-minded people that love Python, same as we do.

We looked at PyCode Conference from three points of view - as silvers sponsors, speakers and, of course, attendees.

It was really interesting to listen to the best Python enthusiasts in the business. PyCode organisers put attracting names on the agenda. As you can imagine, it was a bunch of Python specialists ready to share their knowledge with the participants - not only during a presentation but also in the hallways of Copernicus Science Centre.

Among the guests were a few keynote speakers: Kaja Milanowska (Executive Vice President & Board Member, Immunology & Microbiome Unit) who was talking about Artificial Intelligence in everyday medical practice, Adam Jurkiewicz (Educational Hacker, member of SuperTeachers Team, Python ambassador and UNIX/Linux DevOp, creator of educational Linux Mint Remix for brave and open people) who was presenting the topic of Python in Polish schools, Pascal van Kooten (Senior Data Scientist at Jibes Data Analytics) who spoke about Cryptocurrency Trading using Asyncio, and Piotr Tynecki (Project Manager, ICT Architect and Python software developer) with his presentation called “The usage of convolutional neural networks in the analysis of the bacteriophage genome”.

Of course, there were a lot of impressive speeches - also ones that weren’t closely linked to Python language, but to programming in general. You could learn what are the reasons why Scrum doesn’t work, listen to a speech about design and architecture, find out if programming blogs are useful or take a look at advertising targeting using machine learning.

Presentations were divided into two paths and conference rooms - Polish and English ones.

All presentations were awesome and to the point, but there was the one speech that was crucial for us - the last one. Why? It’s not hard to guess - it was the speech of Miłosz, our Backend Team Leader and Python star ;)

Miłosz was talking about how to increase the performance of the Django framework. During his speech, he pointed out tips and hints that make work with this Python framework much easier and faster.

As I mentioned before, Merixstudio showed up also in the role of silver sponsor. It was really great to support such an event. Also, we had a chance to talk with same Python (and programming in general) freaks as we are. To make our meeting fun, we organised a little contest where the PyCode Conference participants could play Snake Game which we created some time ago for one of our business partners from Belgium. We combined classic "Snake" game concept with Web Sockets and NodeJS technologies and built the game that allows up to 6 people to play snake on TV screen using their smartphones or tablets as game controllers. The winners got their prizes which were Merixstudio gadgets and wireless JBL headphones. It was such fun!

Also, after-party organised by PyCode Conference people was a golden time to meet each other. Talking with different people from all over the country over a couple of beers is always a good idea. This one was held on Hard Rock Cafe, near to Złote Tarasy. We got open bar coupons, ordered delicious beers and jumped into the crowd of participants. I think here is the best moment to greet our new friends from Silesia (Sosnowiec and Bytom rule, guys! :D).

I think there was only one drawback… the number of participants. The conference was well-organised, attractive and substantive so that it should have drawn a crowd of programmers. On the other hand, it was just the first edition of the event. We know exactly how hard is to take the first steps into programming events world because we have a few meetings on our record. I hope that there will be more and more people want to join PyCode Conference, finger crossed! And see you next time!

PS If you’re interested in Django programming, join Django Hotspot meetups. The next one is taking place on 10 October 2018 in Alibi Club in Poznań. You’re more than welcome!