[Chicago] [ChiPy] Meetup Cancelled: Django Study Group

Wed Dec 9 19:57:48 EST 2015

Hi Lane,

I liked the structure of the meetings, although I only attended a couple of
them.  I think the problem is that for this to really work you need a group
of regulars who attend almost all the time and who are at the same level of
programming development or skill.  The feeling that I got from being there
is that it's really a place to network for jobs, etc rather than learn a
web framework or web programming.  I certainly do like the idea of showing
up on Sundays to learn some Python web programming, but it's going to be
very difficult to organize.  The problem with any learning environment is
that you have to enforce prerequisites.  If those prerequisites aren't met,
then it becomes a disaster.  So what should the prerequisites be?  Should
people know HTML before showing up?  How familiar should they be with
Python?  Python 2 or Python 3?  Or both?  Does it matter which OS they
use?  Should they know something about networking and security?

I think the idea is awesome, but the implementation will be problematic,
especially if the leader of the group is doing this pro bono.  I mean....
he or she has to pay rent and bills too, right?    :-)

Happy Holidays,

Douglas.

On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 4:51 PM, Lane Campbell <lane at strapr.com> wrote:

> Brian,
>
> Just a bit of history on why the Django SIG exists as it gets handed off.
> The real person responsible for this starting is Richard Cornish.
>
> There was a need for Richard's students (myself included) that were
> attending the course called Friendly Django 101 he started.  The students
> wanted to keep advancing ourselves outside of Richards classes.
> Unfortunately there were only two of these courses, they were held at Doejo
> and a coffee shop, but they ended there as Richard wasn't able to keep the
> classes going.  I believe that the Friendly Django 101 courses were held
> outside of Chipy.  I had never heard of Chipy when I started attending
> these courses, I don't know if I belonged to Chipy even when I started this
> study group.  I found Chipy Googling around to learn more about Python on
> my time.
>
> At first we had a few people who would show up regularly each month.  This
> was due to me putting in the effort to send emails to everyone reminding
> them about it happening.  Last summer I joined your mentor/mentee program
> and you hired me for a student project.  About that time you asked if we
> wanted to be affiliated and become a SIG.  I think that joining Chipy has
> been great.  Yet, this group was always a bit different than everything
> else.  Attendance has been low since winter began and especially since I
> have had to cancel a couple of meetups because of travel/family.   I don't
> think it helped that I've kept it informal and shied away from including
> instructors or an agenda.  Chipy members have been looking for more
> instruction rather than time set aside to learn on their own.  I started
> the group to simply be a study group and to reserve time for learning
> Python as a group.
>
> If someone is to take on running the group they should follow Brian's
> advice and be more of a mentor than a student.  I was never a good leader
> for this group because I'm not a professional developer and was using it to
> learn Django.  Others would show up and ask questions but I wasn't very
> helpful all the time.  My friend Mark Graves would come by often and would
> help out.  It seems his mentorship was felt by those who he helped.
> However, Mark is a Web2py expert and not a Django expert so the group
> became more of an overall python web framework group.  Which is still
> awesome.  I'm glad that Mark was able to drop in so much.
>
> Should anyone step up and lead this I would ask that you pick up where
> Richard left off and offer real courses to new developers.  It's so badly
> needed, there are so many great ideas trapped in the heads of people who
> want to build them and online courses don't transfer knowledge quite as
> well as in person classes: https://github.com/friendlydjango/friendly-101
>
>
> Regards,
> Lane Campbell
> (312) 775-2632
>
> On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 1:36 PM, Brian Ray <brianhray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Chris:
>>
>>
>> So similar to the other ChiPy special interest groups, leadership of the
>> group should require interests, time, some knowledge of web programming,
>> and particularly, enough experience in programming the Web in Python that
>> they can answer attendees questions. Lane, wish to add anything?
>>
>> The frequency should be decided by whoever wants to lead the effort. I do
>> not suggest weekly study groups as it's too frequent.
>>
>> Regards, Brian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Chris Foresman <foresmac at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Brian,
>>>
>>> We’re discussing how the Systems team at Vokal may be able to head up
>>> this effort. Can you help us understand what kind of commitment a leader
>>> would need for a SIG?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Chris Foresman
>>> chris at chrisforesman.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Dec 7, 2015, at 11:18 AM, Brian Ray <brianhray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> FYI
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: *Brian Ray* <brianhray at gmail.com>
>>> Date: Monday, December 7, 2015
>>> Subject: [ChiPy] Meetup Cancelled: Django Study Group
>>> To: ChiPy-announce at meetup.com
>>>
>>>
>>> Django Study Group has been cancelled. Please update your plans
>>> accordingly.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> We are converting the Django Study Group into a Web SIG. On that note,
>>> please discuss on our mailing list if you wish to lead this effort:
>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>>
>>> Lane and ChiPy Organizers
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Brian Ray
>>> @brianray
>>> (773) 669-7717
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Chicago mailing list
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>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Chicago mailing list
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>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Brian Ray
>> @brianray
>> (773) 669-7717
>>
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>>
>>
>
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