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06/29/11 | Uncategorized

PyLadies Meetups Expanding to Seattle, Sydney and Wellington

By Audrey Roy (Co-Founder, Cartwheel Web)
PyLadies is a worldwide community of ladies and supporting gentlemen who use the Python programming language.

We are putting together an open-source PyLadies kit to help Pythonistas in various cities start their own local chapters. We’ll be putting the contents up on Read the Docs (rtfd.org) shortly. I would like to help interested Python developers start PyLadies chapters in other cities, starting in Seattle, Sydney and Wellington.

Email me at audreyr@pyladies.com if you will be available and suggest a few good times. Below are just a few to cities PyLadies meetups to start:

  • Seattle PyLadies — July 7, 2011 -or- July 10, 2011
  • Sydney, Australia PyLadies — August 19, 2011 -or- August 24, 2011
  • Wellington, New Zealand PyLadies — August 29, 2011

This is a meetup for beginner through advanced Python developers who are interested in gender diversity.

It is not a workshop.

We’ll get together somewhere, ideally at a local Python company willing to step forward and host the event. I’ll thank you with all my heart for helping improve diversity in the Python world if your company hosts.

I’ll walk you through the kit and help you build a PyLadies chapter in your city. I have some important tips and tricks to make it happen, including: Get as many ladies as possible from the first 2 or so meetups to commit to being co-organizers. The more people feel personally invested in the group from the start, the better (2-10 is a good number).

If you’re a gentleman, encourage the ladies to both lead and take credit. Step back and take a supporting volunteer role. Empower them by letting them become known leaders.

We’ll go around the room with introductions, telling each other a bit about what we all do.

When we’re done talking and planning, we’ll go out for drinks to celebrate and start building friendships with other locals who care about diversity in Python. There’s something magical about being in a room of female Python developers, or even just being a man in a room of Python developers where 60% are experienced female devs.

As your chapter grows, you’ll see “Diversity as a Dependency” (as Anna Martelli Ravenscroft put it) begin to happen in real life.

This post was originally posted at Audrey’s blog.

Audrey Roy is co-founder of Cartwheel Web, a Django consulting company in LA. She has worked at Microsoft, Sharpcast, Brown University and MIT. She used Python and JavaScript to create generative digital artwork for San Francisco galleries and art collectors. Her work has been featured in NYTimes and Wired News, and she is especially passionate about Django. Audrey holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Follow her on Twitter at @AudreyR.

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