Why I joined the Djangonaut Space Program

Nov. 15, 2024

DjangoConEU 2016 in Budapest was the first tech conference I attended where my employer paid for my ticket. Before that, I had been attending smaller conferences while at a non-tech job. But Budapest in 2016 was glorious. There were talks on the newly introduced Code of Conduct as well as on Community. There were also technical talks, but, being fresh-faced in the community, I didn't understand all of them.

At the time I remembered that I so wanted to be accepted by the community that I gave a lightning talk on 2 or 3 things that I love about Django. I don't remember most of the talk, and I would have forgotten about it had there not been photographic proof taken of that talk.

In 2017 DjangoConEU took place in Florence, Italy, and as I was lining up to get my conference badge and swag bag, I made a decision that would affect my life for the better. Of course, I didn't know it at the time, nor would I know it for about two days.

The conference party in Florence took place at a German Beergarden bar, which was hilarious because I was coming from Berlin. At every conference I try to talk to as many new people as possible, which is often impossible because by now I know too many people from previous conferences. So I was chatting with Aaron Bassett who I had met the year before, and Becky Smith, who I had just met, when this random guy turns to me and says "You're the guy!" I was a bit surprised because I had no idea who he was or what he was talking about.

It turns out that we had met before. The conference sponsor booths were placed so that the line to pick up conference credentials passed by all their tables. Bored, and not yet recognizing anyone, I decided to talk to all the sponsors. The first one was Mark Smith from Nexmo. I asked "In 15 seconds tell me what you can about your company." Seeing as it was the beginning of the conference, I really woke him up.

I've had the privilege of sharing many meals and beers with Mark, but I've never been able to buy him a coffee because every time I try, someone has already beat me to it.

I've met so many people through the Django Community. And I have benefited from their knowledge, their kindness, and their friendship. If you opened up my unwritten list of "favorite people in the world", you would find an astounding number of people. Most of them would be from the Django Community.

How do you give back to a community that has created the Django Web Framework, the "Framework for perfectionists with deadlines"? Sometimes I feel like Django is a present that was released into the world that is the equivalent of "We made this thing that will make your life much easier, and wrote documentation on how to use every single part".

I want to be a part of that. In 2016, I asked my employer to take some company time to contribute back to the Django project. I had some pull requests accepted before I left the company, and started somewhere where we weren't using Django and lost the momentum.

This year I saw a post by Rachell Calhoun on LinkedIn about the Djangonaut Space Program. The program is meant to be a mentorship for new contributors to the Django project. Seeing as I had contributed in the past, would I be eligible? I sent an message to Rachell, who said I would still benefit from the program, so I applied, and I got in!

I joined because I want to make the code and documentation better. I want to be a part of the gift that makes people's lives easier. I joined because I have financially benefited from companies that use this software for free. I joined because I want to give back to this wonderful community that welcomes me back year after year to DjangoConEurope, as well as all the meetups.

An embrace to all the wonderful people in the Django Community I have met both in person and virtually.