What can you learn from CTO conferences?
The 7 conferences featured here can help address some of the biggest concerns keeping engaged CTOs up at night, such as:
- making technology decisions;
- managing innovation;
- keeping abreast of emerging technologies or frameworks;
- improving coding skills, especially if you’re a startup CTO;
- managing the engineering team mix.
Tips for getting the most out of Python conferences for CTOs
Here are a few suggestions you can use to get the most out of attending the conferences:
1. Apply to speak
This cannot be overstated. These events provide a great platform to share your ideas and stories. Moreover, it’s an opportunity to showcase a particular project with other developers, invite debate, and build connections.
For more information on the subject, we recommend you check out DjangoCon’s US page as a point of reference.
2. Sponsor the event or grab a booth
Depending on your recruitment needs, this gives you a chance to meet potential developers face to face. It does involve bringing some extra team members, but the costs may well be justified. DjangoCon Europe has a page discussing the benefits of such an approach.
3. Download the conference app
Use the app in advance to craft your profile and schedule meetings. Additionally, when joining a conference remotely, it’s a great way to connect with the other participants and have a fuller conference experience. A lot of the conference attendees also gather on official Slack channels if you want to network and socialize a bit.
4. Make the most of the keynote speakers
Learn from other people who are driving innovation. Don’t shy away from engaging in the Q&A to press the speakers on key points you’re interested in. Also, take notes. Notes are never a bad idea.
5. Join a hackathon or development sprint
For the hands-on CTO, this is a great way to contribute to an open-source project or even introduce one of your own. Not to mention that it’s a lot of fun.
6. Network at the job fair or exhibition
Even without a booth, this can be the best tactic to reach talented developers. Check out the PyCon Jobs Fair from 2019 to understand how this is organized. It might be a little old, but trust us when we say it’s not outdated.
7 must-attend Python conferences in the second half of 2022
Python.org does a wonderful job of listing the top Python conferences globally. However, wading through the list can be cumbersome and some noteworthy regional events are left out.
With that in mind, we have selected and listed below some of the essential Python conferences that any CTO or Engineering Manager should consider attending in the upcoming second part of 2022.
The conferences are ordered by proximity to the actual date of the event. If you’re last-minute, start from the top.
1. PyData London 2022
- Location: London, UK
- Date: June 17–19
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
Over the course of three days, guests will have the opportunity to engage in workshops, attend live keynote presentations and discussions with excellent speakers, and get to know other PyData community members. The only tickets still available right now are for the conference’s final two days and they are bound to disappear soon, so better be quick.
What makes it special
PyData is at the forefront of diversity and inclusion. As an educational program of a non-profit organization NumFOCUS, they try to create a diverse and inclusive space. They support women as their primary keynote speakers and provide free childcare during the event, and we are all about that.
2. EuroPython 2022
- Location: Dublin, Ireland & remote
- Date: July 11–17
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
EuroPython is a full week of talks, workshops, and tutorials. The event is broken up into the following:
- Two workshop/training days (July 11–12)
- Three conference days (July 13–15)
- Two sprint days (July 16–17)
This year, you can join both onsite as well as online, making it the largest European Python conference out there. It will include over 120 speaking sessions, as well as various interactive activities.
What makes it special
The first EuroPython actually predates the first PyCon by a year. The original event brought together a small group of 240 attendees. Now, the number of participants is close to 1,200 every year. If you haven’t had a chance to attend EuroPython before and you’re wondering how it looks, you can watch all of the previous video materials on archive.org.
3. SciPy USA 2022
- Location: Austin, Texas, USA
- Date: July 11–17
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
This is going to be the 21st edition of the famous annual Scientific Computing with Python Conference. The event consists of two tutorial days, three days of lectures, and two days of developer sprints.
It brings together a community committed to the progress of scientific computing via open-source Python software for mathematics, science, and engineering. Participants from all over the world get to demonstrate their latest work as well as learn and collaborate with each other.
This year, SciPy announced two more specialty tracks that would run concurrently with the regular conference: Machine Learning and Data Life Cycle. Given the recent surge in interest in these topics, it appears to be an excellent opportunity to network with professionals in the industry and broaden your knowledge!
What makes it special
For community-building, SciPy introduced Birds-of-a-Feather (BoFs) sessions. This event includes a short presentation by a panel of experts followed by a moderator opening up the discussion to everyone in attendance. BoF topics can be of general interest or based on the themes of the conference.
4. EuroSciPy 2022
- Location: Basel, Switzerland
- Date: August 29–September 2
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
The program consists of five days of tutorials, sprints, and talks, with over 80 speakers attending. Not much detail has been announced so far, as the call for proposals was only closed a few days ago, but we, for one, are sure we’re going to get excited.
What makes it special
The SciPy lecture notes are a thorough collection of lectures that cover everything from the fundamentals of Scientific Python to more advanced subjects and packages, compiled throughout the years from all SciPy events.
5. PyCon UK 2022
- Location: Cardiff, UK
- Date: September 16–18
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
The three-day conference attracts 500+ attendees, mainly focused in the UK. Over those days, attendees can join keynote presentations, talks, and panels, as well as lightning talks and sprints. As is the case with all conferences on this list, PyCon UK offers an option for companies to sponsor a booth and pair their conference efforts with recruitment.
What makes it special
Every year since 2016, a PyCon UK Slack has been launched for the sole purpose of organizing meetups with other conference attendees. The social channel provides networking opportunities for those unable to stick around for the duration of the entire event.
6. DjangoCon Europe 2022
- Location: Porto, Portugal & remote
- Date: September 21–25
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
DjangoCon Europe is one of our personal favorites, and it’s returning to Portugal for the third year in a row! Each year, it is hosted by a different independent volunteer team, but due to a lack of applicants, it will once again be held in Porto.
We, for one, are overjoyed because their previous installments were fantastic. There is currently no schedule available, but it’s expected to be announced soon.
What makes it special
DjangoCon is a five-day international conference that focuses on Django—Python’s “web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.” By a wide margin, Django is the most popular web framework used in Python (you can learn more about Python web frameworks here).
What we absolutely adore is that it offers a grant program that “prioritizes speakers first, and then anyone who is part of an underrepresented or marginalized group.” Just in 2020, they offered 500 free registrations!
7. DjangoCon US 2022
- Location: San Diego, California, USA & remote
- Date: October 16–21
- Website: (click here)
What to expect
Another DjangoCon on our list, this time in the United States. The agenda for the 2022 edition is still being finalized. The conference organizers claim that, as always, there will be plenty of networking opportunities, dedicated time with sponsors, and social events. We anticipate everything from seminars on building mobile apps and rapid prototyping to discussions on data visualization and accessibility.
What makes it special
DjangoCon US announced that this year they will be conducting a “deep dive day” focused on exploring Django and Django-related topics. It intends to follow in the footsteps of Django: Under the Hood by delving into a wide range of topics for people with varying levels of Django knowledge and experience.
Final thoughts on the Python conferences to attend in 2022 to become a better CTO
Being a CTO means you’re probably extremely busy. You can’t afford to attend every conference out there, even if you wanted to. There’s a lot of work to be done, like updating your app, contributing to an investor’s pitch, or opening recruitment to expand your team.
While there is a wide range of amazing Python conferences to choose from—some of which we’ve probably omitted—these 7 picks offer just the right combination of engaging discussions on emerging technologies and stimulating prospects of expanding your engineering team mix.
Pick either, and we promise you’ll get your money’s worth. However, with that said, now that so many events are happening both in-person as well as online, it’s not impossible to fit a few extra events on your calendar!
Your feedback
Thanks for taking the time to read through the list.
Do you agree with our selection? Think we’re missing a critical piece of information about the conferences listed? Know of another Python conference that should have made the list, but didn’t?
Go ahead and leave us a comment. We’ll verify your suggestions and include them in our next update of the post if we decide they could be of interest to CTOs.
And if you’d like to learn more about the most important issues for CTOs right now, check out the report from our 2021 Global CTO Survey!
