Python community quality¶

Yesterday I attended a Dutch “google developer group NL” meeting about AngularJS. I expected to get a couple of solid technical talks about AngularJS. And a meeting that was more or less on par with a Python/Django meeting.

What I got was:

• A metric ton of pizza. Good pizza.

• Two talks. One was a very basic intro-level AngularJS talk, more or less a re-hash of the first TODO item demo on the AngularJS web site. So: not very useful. The second was a demo of someone who couldn’t speak understandable English (at least, I could only follow 60% of what he said) but who could switch between 5 different screens in record time and copy/paste Java code and fire up an IDE and do all sorts of magic stuff that had nothing to do with AngularJS.

• No pause in between the talks so that I was tired after about two hours of talks. Next time you save time by stripping out the pause, please spend that time torturing the second speaker to make sure he doesn’t overruns his time slot by the same amount of time that you just saved by stripping out the pause. Bloody idiot.

• The socializing event at the end consisted of one bottle of cola and one of sinas and a couple of glasses right next to the exit. So… everyone fled as fast as they could. No socializing.

Oh shit. I’m gonna kick the colleague that suggested the meeting to us (but who strategically couldn’t make it to the meeting…) in the nuts the next time I see him, I guess. What didn’t help is that there was drenching rain during the evening so that I was totally soaked when I got there and that I was still cold by the time I got home.

Now, what do you get on a typical python/django meeting in the Netherlands?

• Two great/good/decent talks of 30 minutes about a subject that’s pretty much on track.

• Some six 5-minute “lightning” talks about who knows what. Always fun, always at least two useful items in there.

• Lots of socializing. A pause in the middle to keep everyone fresh for the second half of the evening.

• Lots of socializing afterwards. Not just a single cola bottle, but three crates of beer, four cola bottles and a selection of nuts and other stuff to munch on. This invites people to stay and to socialize and to meet possible new bosses and colleagues and like-minded people.

• Someone’ll walk up to you and talk to you. In contrast, nobody bloody said anything to me during the entire GDGNL evening except:

  • my colleague.

  • the watchdog at the door that asked my name whether I had registered for the evening.

  • Jan-Jaap that I know from the Python community.

So… never ever am I going to waste another minute on a Google Developer Group NL meeting. Especially when it is raining.