Tell Us About Your User Group

The Python Software Foundation is conducting an international survey of Python User Group organizers to help us better serve the large and ever-expanding Python User Group community.

The survey contains questions on user group organization, events, demographics, and growth. There are some questions with numerical answers, and while your best guess is fine, you may find it helpful to gather some statistics on your user group membership before starting the survey (example statistics include the number of active members and the size and topics for recent user group events).

We expect this survey to take around 30 minutes to complete. We appreciate your time and honesty in answering these questions.

This survey was written by Jessica McKellar, organizer for the Boston Python Meetup, and Jesse Noller, PSF board member and PyCon chair.

User group organizers, please click here to begin the survey.

Free Tickets for PyNZ

The Python Software Foundation is once again sponsoring an international conference. This time is the Kiwi's PyCon 2011 to be held on August 27th and 28th at Te Whaea in Wellington, New Zealand.

As a sponsor, the PSF received several passes to the conference, and is offering them to foundation members or other members of the Python community. Preference will be given to students or other individuals with financial aid needs--especially those just getting into Python!

If you wish to take advantage of the tickets or know of someone local, a student, or someone else who would love to go but can not cover the admission, contact Jesse Noller (jnoller@python.org) or the PSF board (psf@python.org).

PyLadies gets a PSF Grant

The PSF has given a grant of US$1220 to the PyLadies for use at their women’s Python events. In addition, the Python Sprints project has announced a separate grant of US$300 to PyLadies to go toward organizing a Python sprint in Los Angeles.

PyLadies

PyLadies is a group of women who use and love the Python programming language. They organize workshops, meetups, and hackathons with a goal of increasing the number of women active in the Python community. They started in Los Angeles, California, but plan to expand with local chapters in other areas.

June 18: PyLadies/SoCal Python Interest Group Hackathon

The SoCal Python Interest Group and LA PyLadies are two of LA’s biggest Python user groups. They are teaming up for a day of sprinting Saturday June 18, 2011. Tickets are available through the eventbrite site.

Schedule:

• 2-7pm: Hack on your own projects
• 7-8pm: Dinner, drinks, and lightning talks
• 8pm-midnight: Python Ladies’ Night 4 at The Hollywood Canteen. Gentlemen of the Python community and friends not attending the hackathon are invited too. The more, the merrier!

This is no ordinary sprint: thanks to the pythonsprints.com grant, at least 10 mentors will be on hand to provide one-on-one help and tutoring throughout the event. Mentors will bring beginners up to speed and teach attendees a variety of Python-related skills, such as git, PyPI packaging, Sphinx docs, installing Python, and other open-source subjects. Think of this as free Python tutoring!

Free T-shirts for Open Source Work

Participants in the hackathon who release their projects as open source (or contribute to an existing open source project) will receive limited-edition PyLadies/PyLadies Supporter t-shirts, funded by the PSF.

Invite the Smart Women in Your Life

The hackathon is open to participants of all skill levels. Invite a smart lady or two of any age to attend the event with you. Even if they are absolute beginners, the mentors will help them start learning Python through online tutorials such as Learn Python The Hard Way, while you hack on other projects.

Contact

Contact audreyr at pyladies dot com with questions about PyLadies or the hackathon on June 18.