Python Software Foundation News: 11/01/2019

Congratulations! Thank you for your continued contributions. We have added you to our Fellow roster online.

The above members have contributed to the Python ecosystem by teaching Python, maintaining popular libraries/tools such as cryptography and pytest, helping document on packaging.python.org, organizing Python events, starting Python communities in their home countries, and overall being great mentors in our community. Each of them continues to help make Python more accessible around the world. To learn more about the new Fellow members, check out their links above.

Let's continue to recognize Pythonistas all over the world for their impact on our community. Here's the criteria our Work Group uses to review nominations:

For those who have served the Python community by creating and/or maintaining various engineering/design contributions, the following statement should be true:

Nominated Person has served the Python community by making available code, tests, documentation, or design, either in a Python implementation or in a Python ecosystem project, that 1) shows technical excellence, 2) is an example of software engineering principles and best practices, and 3) has achieved widespread usage or acclaim.

For those who have served the Python community by coordinating, organizing, teaching, writing, and evangelizing, the following statement should be true:

Nominated Person has served the Python community through extraordinary efforts in organizing Python events, publicly promoting Python, and teaching and coordinating others. Nominated Person's efforts have shown leadership and resulted in long-lasting and substantial gains in the number and quality of Python users, and have been widely recognized as being above and beyond normal volunteering.

If someone is not accepted to be a fellow in the quarter they were nominated for, they will remain an active nominee for 1 year for future consideration.
It is suggested/recommended that the nominee have wide Python community involvement. Examples would be (not a complete list - just examples):

Someone who has received a Community Service Award or Distinguished Service Award
A developer that writes (more than one) documentation/books/tutorials for wider audience
Someone that helps translate (more than one) documentation/books/tutorials for better inclusivity
An instructor that teaches Python related tutorials in various regions
Someone that helps organize local meet ups and also helps organize a regional conference

Nominees should be aware of the Python community’s Code of Conduct and should have a record of fostering the community.
Sitting members of the PSF Board of Directors can be nominated if they meet the above criteria.

If you would like to nominate someone to be a PSF Fellow, please send a description of their Python accomplishments and their email address to psf-fellow at python.org. We are accepting nominations for quarter 4 through November 20, 2019. More information is available at: https://www.python.org/psf/fellows/.

Why Sponsor PyCon 2020?

Sponsors help keep PyCon affordable and accessible to the widest possible audience. Sponsors are what make this conference possible. From low ticket prices to financial aid, to video recording, the organizations who step forward to support PyCon, in turn, support the entire Python community. They make it possible for so many to attend, for so many to be presenters, and for the people at home to watch along.

As a PyCon sponsor, your outreach to attendees begins before the conference even starts and lasts throughout the year. Your reach isn’t limited to the number of people who attend the conference itself. Following PyCon, you’ll continue to connect with the Python community through many touch points:

Playback and Recorded PyCon Coverage: Over 17,000 people have subscribed to PyCon’s YouTube channel with over 723,000 views of either the keynotes or the recorded videos of PyCon 2018 sessions. Those videos continue to attract viewers today.
Conference Page and Announcement E-Lists: The PyCon home page has thousands of unique visitors every year and this year we’ll have an opt-in at signup for a newsletter to receive PyCon announcements.
Social Media: The PSF and PyCon Twitter accounts have more than 332,000 followers combined and thousands of followers of the PyCon speakers.

A Silver Sponsorship is a great low-cost option that includes (2) full passes and Job listing(s) on the Jobs Fair page! We also offer organizations with fewer than 25 employees a 30% discount for gold and silver sponsorships.

Check out the new marketing and promotional opportunities for 2020!

We are also happy to customize a sponsorship package to give you the freedom to choose what you think works best in order to meet your event participation goals. Our sponsorship prospectus can be found here.

For more information please contact: pycon-sponsors@python.org

Monday, November 11, 2019

Seeking Developers for Paid Contract Improving pip

The Python Software Foundation Packaging Working Group is receiving funding to work on the design, implementation, and rollout of pip's next-generation dependency resolver. (We'll be able to publicly name the funders later this month and in early December.)

pip is the official package installer for Python. pip aims to make it easy for the millions of people who use Python to download and install Python libraries and applications (open source and closed source, source and binary, globally and within isolated virtual environments). It's a foundational component of the Python ecosystem and broader computer software and technology landscape.

This project aims to complete the design, implementation, and rollout of pip's next-generation dependency resolver. This will lower the barriers to installing Python software, empowering users to get a version of a package that works. It will also lower the barriers to distributing Python software, empowering developers to make their work available in an easily reusable form.

Because of the size of the project, funding has been allocated to secure two contractors, a senior developer and an intermediate developer, to work on development, testing and building test infrastructure, code review, bug triage, and assisting in the rollout of necessary features.

We plan to begin the project in Quarter 1 of 2020. We are also interested in senior developer candidates who are available to start in December 2019.

Timeline and budget

Date	Milestone
November 11	Request for Proposal period opens.
November 22	Request for Proposal period closes.
November 27	Date proposals will have received a decision.
December 31	Latest date for contracts for accepted proposals to be finalized.
January 2	Latest date for contract work to commence.

Role 1: We seek a senior Python developer, work starting in mid-December 2019 or early January 2020, work ending at the end of May 2020. Pay: $116,375 total (665 hours of work at $175 per hour).

Role 2: We seek an intermediate-to-senior Python developer, work starting in early January 2020, till the end of December 2020. Pay: $103,700 (670 hours of work at $150 per hour), plus $1600 budgeted for onboarding travel and $1600 budgeted for PyCon travel.

What is the Request for Proposals period?

A Request for Proposals (RFP) is a process intended to allow us (the Python Software Foundation) to collect proposals from potential contractors and select contractor(s) best suited to fulfill the specified work.

After the RFP period closes we will evaluate the received proposals based on the evaluation criteria, seek clarification from proposers as necessary, and select one or more contractors to complete the work specified in the scope section.

Note: This Request For Proposal document may be updated to reflect things that we learn during the process. The canonical version and history is available here.

How do I submit a proposal?

First, please read the full contents of the Request for Proposals!

You'll find the instructions for submission, evaluation criteria, as well as the scopes of the two roles, there.