PyOhio 2019 was one of my favorite conferences, ever. It was my ninth Python conference and my second PyOhio conference. There were so many good things that happened in such short time that, even three weeks later, I’m still processing everything. Here are my reflections on this outstanding conference.
Roadtrip
PyOhio 2019 was held in Columbus, Ohio at the Ohio State Union. I really wanted to go because PyOhio 2018 was such a good time, and I started asking my friends in North Carolina if anyone wanted to join me. My friends Rick and Justin all emphatically replied YES! To make traveling more fun, we decided to turn it into a road trip! We dubbed ourselves the “PyCarolinas delegation”, piled into my Chrysler 300, and made the 8-hour drive in good time. Our friend Greg also joined us at PyOhio, though he traveled separately with his wife.
This was the first time I ever did a road trip to a conference. I’m so glad we did it. I felt like I got to spend great quality time with my friends. Many parts of the drive were quite scenic. We also discovered a Beef Jerky Outlet!
My Talks
At PyOhio 2019, I delivered the holy trifecta of speaking opportunities: a talk, a tutorial, and a lightning talk. I felt both honored and humbled to be chosen for all three.
My talk was entitled Surviving Without Python. I talked about how we can use Python’s principles, projects, and people to inspire us even when we don’t use Python to solve our problems:
My tutorial was entitled Hands-On Web UI Testing. Python’s popularity continues to rise, and many people use it for testing. In my tutorial, I showed how you can develop a simple yet powerful solution with Python, pytest, and Selenium WebDriver to automate Web UI tests. The tutorial project in GitHub contains the code, instructions, and slides.
My lightning talk was announcing PyCarolinas 2020. My friend Calvin and I are teaming up to bring PyCarolinas back! We are targeting June 2020 in Raleigh, NC. Please help us make it happen!
Other Talks
There were so many great talks at PyOhio. Here were a few highlights.
Sprints
Sprints are a Python conference event in which people work together on open-source projects. Conferences are the perfect time to have sprints because people are both co-located and excited. PyOhio 2019 was actually the first time I attended sprints. There were sprints on both Friday and Saturday nights. Accenture graciously hosted both sprints in their swanky office and provided refreshments.
I went to the sprints both nights with the honest intention to work on stuff. However, I spent the whole time socializing with friends. It was nevertheless time well spent! Many of us went to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams after the final sprint, too.
Swag
The PyOhio 2019 logo was lit! I joked that I was going to the conference just to get that logo sticker and t-shirt. Some other cool takeaways were the Numerator puzzles and the JP Morgan Chase puzzle blocks.
My sticker game is strong:
My backpack was also a hit!
Food and Drink
I had some good eats while in Columbus. My friend Mason recommended Raising Cane’s, which turned out to be awesome! So many people followed us there, too.
I also hopped an electric scooter to get bubble tea. Those scooters are so much fun. I hadn’t ridden one since PyTexas 2019! (Or maybe PyCon 2019; I don’t remember precisely.)
To relive PyOhio 2018 memories, I went to Eden Burger for a Vegan brunch on Sunday morning with friends! It was delicious and nutritious.
Our friend Greg recommended we visit Brewdog, a renowned Scottish craft brewery with a huge site on the outskirts of Columbus. We took the tour with the “beer school” course, and we stayed for a delicious dinner afterwards. So good, so very good. It was the best way to end the conference!
Friends
The best part about PyOhio 2019 was the time I spent with all my friends. I wish I could name everyone here, but there are just too many names. The Python community is the best. Conference friends are real friends. Also, for what it’s worth, they’ve given me the nickname “Pandy.”
Hope
My PyOhio 2019 experience can be summarized in one line:
Truth – I went all-in from leaving my house on Friday morning until returning Monday evening. The conference high is very real. My hope is that I’ll get to attend more great conferences like this, and also that I’ll be able to help make PyCarolinas as good as PyOhio!
Automation Panda 