Reflecting on my DjangoCon US 2024 Experience

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DjangoCon US has always been an excellent experience for me. Despite the diversity and different backgrounds, the community, the talks, the vibe, and everything else have always felt right.

Today, I will highlight my experience at DCUS 2024 and discuss what I look forward to at this year’s DjangoCon US.

Outline of Contents

• Introduction

• Conference Highlights

• Community Engagement

• Lessons Learned/Takeaways

• Impact on My Work, Contributions and Growth

• Conclusion

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Introduction

Django is a high-level Python web framework that helps you develop fast and clean by design. It handles the hassle of web development under the hood, so you can get into your zone and build your app quickly — that’s where the phrase “framework for perfectionists with deadlines” comes from. It’s free and open source.

On that note, DjangoCon US is a five-day international conference for the community about the Django web framework, held each year in North America. DjangoCon US caters for everyone, from those who develop Django applications for a living to those who tinker in their spare time.

From my experience, you discover details about different tools, applications, libraries and even history, and you better understand concepts you’re already familiar with.

I attended my first DjangoCon US out of curiosity; I used to work extensively with Django and have co-organized and coached at Django Girls events since 2017. After that, I became more involved than I had ever imagined.

Last year, I became a Django Software Foundation Board Member and a Djangonaut 🚀**, this year I am Programme Chair for DjangoCon US 2025.
(I will talk more on my roles in another article).**

Conference Highlights

DCUS typically kicks off with a Django Social event the night before, and I attended that to mingle, say hi and ease up before the conference. (I am very shy about most of these global speaking engagements, but somehow, I have overcome them. I’m working to be better this year.)

DCUS 2024 had a great orientation talk(by Kojo Idrissa), keynotes, talks, lightning and panel sessions.
Check out the full schedule here: DCUS 2024 Schedule.

During the conference, I chaired and co-chaired sessions for most mornings or afternoons, switching with Velda (when you see her, you see me, and when you see me, you see her 🤭).

As a result, I was in and out of the Grand and Junior Ballrooms, listening to the talks. Our fabulous sponsors were in the booths section in the hall.

We also had a panel discussion, which was great because it uncovered reflections and realizations about Django, Open Source, the Community, and the way forward.

Community Engagement

At the end of the main conference days, we had Sprints, which I love because they allow you to work on features, tools, docs, and anything related to open-source. I also love that they give a break from the talks. During this period, I understood and played around with Trac more since I had plans to contribute to Django, which I did later on with Djangonaut Space(article coming after this).

During this time, I also networked with other developers and organizers before we said our final goodbyes.

Few Takeaways

There was a lot to learn and ingest, but here are a few topics:

• The essence of open source and teaching people

• A deeper understanding of the Django Debug toolbar(optimizations)

• Finding 2.0 (This talk made me think about life deeply)

• An in-depth look into Django’s release notes

and so much more. You can watch the sessions on YouTube.

Impact on My Work, Contributions and Growth

The community and framework have influenced my life, knowledge and skills. I look forward to making more impactful and positive contributions and growth personally and within the community.

Conclusion

DjangoCon US is a great experience, and I look forward to this year’s. For updates, check here: DjangoCon US 2025.

A big thank you to all the organizers who sacrificed so much time, effort, comfort, and sleep to make this a success and to the speakers and the community for always making it feel welcoming and safe.

See you soon :)