I'm Sheena from South Africa. I run Prelude, where I teach Python and teamwork skills. I'm a recognised leader and contributor in the African Python community, with several years of experience in software engineering and technical education.
Background
In my early to mid-career, I worked as a software engineer and tech lead. I did well with that, but I felt that I wasn't making the impact I wanted to make. I was always drawn to teaching and decided to change tracks. I wanted to start teaching code with the goal of empowering people who would typically struggle to break into the industry.
I'm grateful that I got the opportunity to do just that - I spent five years working in non-profit technical education in South Africa, helping people start tech careers, often with a focus on Python. That experience taught me a lot about what works (and what doesn't) when it comes to education and career building. I've taken those lessons and built them into my current work.
Through Prelude, I work with teams and developers who want to level up their Python skills. I also offer specialised teamwork training, helping technical teams improve their collaboration, communication, and collective problem-solving abilities. This dual focus on technical and interpersonal skills comes from seeing how often projects fail not due to code problems, but due to team dynamics. I work to support learners who couldn't otherwise afford training through discounts and freebies. One of my goals for Prelude is to generate enough goodness that there is enough to share.
You can learn more about my education journey and my approach here:
Community Work
I've been involved with PyConZA (South Africa) for several years, mainly working on improving our travel grants program and connecting with other Southern African communities. I helped organise the first-ever DjangoCon Africa in Tanzania in 2023, and I'm the local chair for PyCon Africa 2025.
On the education front, I started the Guild of Educators - a community for people who teach code. We're launching a Python teacher mentorship program soon. The idea is that if we help teachers get better, they can help more students more effectively. By listening in on the conversations that come out of that program, I hope to learn a lot about the challenges that teachers face and how they are facing them, and help best practices to emerge and spread. I'm also part of the PSF's Education and Outreach workgroup.
What I would bring to the PSF
I have a few different things I can bring to the table:
- I have strong leadership and organisational skills from my formal work (I've led, built and grown teams), my community engagements, and my experience training teams in effective collaboration
- I understand education from multiple angles - non-profit, commercial, and community-based. I understand what it takes to teach well and the gaps and pitfalls that many beginner programmers struggle with
- I'm good at spotting where processes are broken and figuring out practical fixes
- I have experience connecting different initiatives so they support each other better (1+1 = 3)
- I can represent perspectives from Southern Africa and similar regions that are often underrepresented
What I'd Focus On
If elected, I'd love to work on:
- Supporting Python educators and students and helping them adapt to changing needs. The programming landscape is changing in big ways, and it's important to stay on top of things. If we can support folks to teach and learn Python in ways that help them ride the wave we are on, that will help us ensure the longevity of the language. A focus on education is a focus on the long game
- Building better connections between Python communities globally, especially bringing emerging communities into the conversation. I'm connected to a few communities around Africa, especially Southern Africa. There's a lot of work to be done here
- Tackling other big hairy problems. For example, I'd love to help figure out how to make the grants program work well. There are limited resources and a lot of complexity in figuring out how to distribute those fairly and effectively.
I'm excited about the opportunity to bring my experience in education, community, and problem-solving to the PSF board and to help ensure Python remains accessible and valuable to communities worldwide.