PyData NYC and PyCon IE

I am on the road again. This time is a bit far. I was wondering how I can be in New York and Dublin in a week. But somehow Dublin is on my way home from New York, all I need is an overnight flight so I can leave almost at the end of PyData NYC and arrive in time for PyCon Ireland.

Day 0 - Arriving at the big apple

My flight took 6 hours and it arrived in New York late afternoon. After checking in to the hotel and refreshing myself, head to the speakers’ social at the fancy office of The view was amazing. Then I join up with Sophia and Erik for dinner before my jet lag called me to head back to bed.

Day 1 - PyData NYC Day 1

Because of the jet lag, I woke up super early. But then I spend some time working on my workshop and other stuff. I then get ready to commute like a New Yorker to time square. However, my phone decided to not give me internet once I step out of the hotel so a do navigate my way like a New Yorker. Luckily the NYC subway is easy to get used to and I remember which train to get from my adventure the day before. So I can get to Manhattan, even Time Square, with no problem. My only worry is that I may not be able to find the venue once I get off the station. But luckily, once I got out, there is a huge Microsoft sign at the entrance of a building and I know that would be the place for PyData New York. (Or at least someone there would know)

So I got there and picked up my badge and entrance pass (we need one each day for the escalator). What is waiting for me upstairs are coffee and breakfast. After the quick breakfast, I meet up with colleagues from Anaconda at our booth. We have a big table next to the entrance. However, many people confused us with the organisers and ask us conference logistic-related questions, which is very funny.

Then it is the opening. It has been 3 years and everyone was so happy to see each other in person again. We were reminded to wear a mask during the talks.

The first talk, which is also the first keynote is by Dr Chelle Gentemann from NASA. She talked about the TOPS program and the mission to make sure all the data and code in published papers are public and results are reproducible. I agree with everything she said and she also makes me understand the goal of the TOPS and the grant that we are trying to apply for. Later on, I got a chance to chat with her and further clear some of the questions that the team had about the grant.

Then we are socialising around, have team meetings and then prepare for our talks after lunch. Sophia has her talk about Holoviz and I have my talk about Hypothesis.

After our talk, we like some fresh air so we went to the nearby Bryant Park. Since it is close to Christmas, there is a festive market there and Sophia likes it.

In the evening, the Anaconda team heads for a company get-together dinner. we walked there and have a small tour of the city. The food there is great and thank you Fara for the recommendation.

Day 2 - PyData NYC Day 2

I am still under the jet lag spell but I was able to sleep a bit longer. I head to the conference like the day before and was there at the keynote. It is by the 2018 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics Sciences Paul Romer. He had a very interesting insight into Jupyter and how to make it more useful for scientists. By making it more robust and more secure by including crypto signing.

I sat at our booth the whole morning while Sophia went to the fireside chat with Chelle.

Then we went out for lunch and have a walk on the Brooklyn bridge. We headed back just in time for the lighting talk and I was lucky to be about to talk about Anaconda’s support for me to bring Humble Data to Ghana.

In the evening I went to socialise with other conference attendees, but then I decided to get more time to rest up by having an early night and dinner by myself.

Day 3 - PyData NYV Tutorial Day

Today is the day I give the new workshop about Numba. It is also the day I checked out of my hotel and leave the city. But first, in the morning, I had breakfast at the conference then I chat with friends at NumFocus booth.

After giving the workshop. I have to slowly wind down and prepared to leave. I got a chance to talk to Peter Vidos who is the maintainer of Vizzu. After that, I said Goodbye to Sophia and headed to the Newark Airport.

I tried to make myself comfortable as the flight to Dublin will be the only rest I have between the two events… no sleep at all. Unfortunately, I was assigned the middle sit but I did the best I could to get a few hours of nap during the flight.

Day 4 - PyCon Ireland Day 1

I landed slightly before 7 am local time. The flight was running early. I quickly get through the airport and call a taxi to the hotel where I will be staying and also the venue of the conference.

I arrived at the hotel. They are so nice that gives me the only room they have for me to check in early! I was so pleased as I can at least refresh myself before attending the conference.

I get to the reception and realise they have an everybody contributes principle and speakers need a ticket too. Luckily the organiser opens the ticket sale for me and I can get a last-minute ticket.

Then I attend the opening. after that, I was feeling so tired that I started to fall asleep. I am glad that my talk is not on the first day morning so I head back to the room to have a quick nap. When I wake up, it’s already lunchtime.

At lunch, I meet a lot of friends. One of them ask me questions as if he was waiting to meet someone from Anaconda to ask. It is about Nucleus and I will forward the contact and questions to the team for answers.

In the afternoon I mostly talk with folks in the hallway. I got a lot of insight from Mark, my friend at Mongo DB, they have a booth there and from observing their work I got some ideas about how Anaconda can approach the future event as well.

I end the first day of the conference by giving a Lightning talk about Humble Data at PyCon Ghana. Many people come to talk to me after about that and the feedback is positive.

Day 5 - PyCon Ireland Day 2

On day 2, I overslept a bit as the jet lag of coming back from New York is still in effect. I got my talk ready and then have lunch sitting with a girl from Argentina who just moved to Dublin. Dublin is a tech hub that attracts tech talents around the world.

After lunch, I gave my talk. People are so interested in it and I spend too much time in Q&A. I then chat with people who didn’t get the chance to ask questions in the hallway.

Now my talk is finished. I was sitting in the lobby having a pint of Guinness and chatting with my friends at the conference. As the conference is situated in the hotel and some folks just grab beer or Guinness from the bar and socialise in the hotel lobby.

Then it’s time to say goodbye to Ireland. I head to the airport right after the closing is finished. I was hoping to get home not too late so I can relax before Monday. Unfortunately, there was some problem with our plane at the airport and we waited for more than an hour on the plane but the problem is not resolved. We have to get off and board another plane. In the end, there was more than 2 hours delay and by the time I got home, it was already very late. Ryanair was fine last week but it is not fine again this time.



About Cheuk Ting Ho

After having a career as a Data Scientist and Developer Advocate, Cheuk dedicated her work to the open-source community. She has co-founded Humble Data, a beginner Python workshop that has been happening around the world. She has served the EuroPython Society board for two years and is now a fellow and director of the Python Software Foundation.

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