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

Sun Dec 13 01:02:26 EST 2015

All,
If we are to relaunch it we could do like a Django 101 workshop and then
after the first meeting we can decide which topics are more useful to talk
about (authentication/ working with angular / django-rest framework etc...
Sincerely,
Joshua Herman

On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 6:57 PM, Lewit, Douglas <d-lewit at neiu.edu> wrote:

> 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
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>> Chicago mailing list
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Brian Ray
>>> @brianray
>>> (773) 669-7717
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Chicago mailing list
>>> Chicago at python.org
>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago
>>>
>>>
>>
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>
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