[python-uk] DJUGL - Django User Group London: this evening (April 22th) at 19:00 c/o WayraUK

Wed Apr 22 16:55:47 CEST 2015

Hi g(uy|irl)s,

my 2 cents here.

As a co-organiser of the Golang meetup I feel the pain of trying to find
sponsors for food, drinks & some place to host. I had sponsorship offers
from recruiters but I tried to avoid them for the exact reason that you
(Anand) are mention, but, let's be honest:

I don't care who sponsors an event. This is a win-win kind of relationship:

- recruiters than at least show interest in the techs or in the people
around the tech will grow their network. I will definitely prefer to talk
to Jon about my next career movement than with somebody else that just know
Django as a keyword.
- we, as users of the tech are going to have a great event with dinner &
beer networking included.

Said that, I understand that you can feel this event as a SPAM kind of
event, but it's not the case at all. In case that it was I would completely
agree with you & probably don't go to the DJUGL meetup again. But, I
repeat, it's not the case, it's just a win-win relation here.

You are asking Jon why he doesn't join other meetups, perhaps he doesn't
want? I don't think that he needs to feel ashamed for that.

I talked once in one of the DJUGLs and I said that my company was hiring,
Jon didn't even mention anything about that when he saw my slides in
advance.

And finally, I also think that is a shame to have 2 events around the same
technology in the same day or even week. The time is limited and I try to
suit my calendar to 1 event per week and if I were interested in this 2
events I would feel sad that I couldn't assist to bot for time restrictions.

Both of you do a great job organising your meetups, let's keep it and in
case that you can help each other, why not? At the end, the community will
be the one winning.

Regards,
Álex González

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 3:04 PM, Jon Gould <j.gould at austinfraser.com> wrote:

> Thanks Anand,
>
> There are some interesting points raised. I love that the Django community
> has grown so much in recent years. Likewise the number of events happening
> in London, each offering something different.
>
> One thing that I have always encouraged at DJUGL if for speakers to
> promote the fact that they are hiring especially as not everyone wants (or
> is able) to pay recruitment fees. This even includes my own existing
> clients.
>
> What purpose does DJUGL serve? great question. Would really be interested
> to see what the community thinks?
>
> As a long term sponsor, I inherited the running of DJUGL a 3 years or so
> ago as various people's workloads increased as they pursued new ventures.
> My own workload has increased (one of a few reason's the event hasn't
> happened) recently, which is why I feel it would be useful for other people
> to help out to keep it relevant.
>
> One thing that I am able to offer is a good knowledge of people working on
> interesting Python/Django projects and find unique speakers to give either
> lightning or longer talks.
>
> Granted I haven't been to many other Python events bar DJUGL, having a
> young family and working long hours doesn't always lend itself to giving up
> many evenings/weekends to attend meetups. The Python Dojo for example, has
> limited space and tickets normally go quickly, I wouldn't want to take the
> place there of someone who would actually be able to take part in the
> coding challenges.
>
> Happy to speak further on this and as always, I'm always open to wider
> feedback.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jon
>
>
>
> *Jon Gould* / Manager / Web & Digital /*Tel* +44(0)1189520159 /  austinfraser.com
>  /  <http://www.austinfraser.com> Twitter  /
> <https://twitter.com/JonG0uld> LinkedIn  /
> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/JonGould>
>
> ©2015. Austin Fraser Ltd.
> Terms and Conditions. <http://www.austinfraser.com/terms>
>
> We are proud to share our achievements and involvement in –
> The Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For 2013
> <http://www.b.co.uk/Lists/ListedCompanies.aspx?Survey=133&Size=350>
> The Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For 2014
> <http://www.b.co.uk/Lists/ListedCompanies.aspx?Survey=179&Size=488&PN=2>
> The Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For 2015
> <http://www.b.co.uk/Company/Profile/343306>
> The Sunday Times Fast Track 100
> <http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack/leagues/ft100leaguetable.asp?siteID=1&yr=2012&area1=99&sort=num&x=27&y=14>
> Investors in People|GOLD <http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/>
> APSCo <http://www.apsco.org/directory/austin-fraser-ltd_284.aspx>.
>
> Austin Fraser Ltd is registered in England: 05684470. Austin Fraser
> Limited, One Forbury Square, The Forbury, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 3BB
>
> On 22 April 2015 at 13:07, Anand Kumria <akumria at acm.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jon,
>>
>> On 22/04/15 11:59, Jon Gould wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Moving forward, I'll be looking for a couple of additional people to
>> > help with the running of the event.
>>
>> Why?
>>
>> If you feel you don't have the time / energy, why continue to run it?
>>
>> What particular need do you feel DJUGL is serving?
>>
>> > There seems to be a negative impression of DJUGL from some quarters
>> > based on it being solely run by a recruitment company, for those who
>> > know me this is something I have worked hard over the last 7 years to
>> > change the typical perception and become an active member of the
>> > Django community.
>>
>> I've never seen you come to a London Django meetup - that was the one
>> last night. Nor did I see you at any of the London Django coding
>> sessions; nor the (recent) Django sprint.
>>
>> No one expects you to come to every possible event but *only* going to
>> the ones that you put on indicates that your perception of the community
>> is limited. Particularly if you've not been able to over the last 7 years.
>>
>> The "negative impression" is something I've heard many times; a number
>> of speakers have resented that the fact that their presentation needed
>> to be "vetted" for recruitment statements and they felt obliged not to
>> say "we're hiring" in their presentations.
>>
>> > It's also a shame that there are several other Python/Django Meetups
>> > happening this week.
>>
>> You wrote me a email complaining about that, but *why* is it a shame?
>>
>> I think it is something to celebrate that London has a sufficiently
>> large Django community to be able to easily support two meetups during
>> the week.
>>
>> I know plenty of people who are going to both; it seems like a win for
>> the community to have choice.
>>
>> Anand
>>
>> --
>> “Don’t be sad because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> python-uk mailing list
> python-uk at python.org
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-uk
>
>

-- 
@agonzalezro <http://twitter.com/agonzalezro> or my blog
<http://agonzalezro.github.io>
Please, don't send me files with extensions: .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt
and/or .pptx
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-uk/attachments/20150422/86a75713/attachment-0001.html>