Looking back at PyCon Namibia 2019

Talks

Workshops

Community

PyCon Namibia 2019 was held at NIPAM in Windhoek from 19th-21st February.

The fifth edition of Namibia's annual PyCon continued the efforts made in previous years, to develop the software skills of Namibian programmers and help new programmers discover Python. As usual, PyCon Namibia was attended by visitors from countries across Africa and beyond.

This year, PyCon Namibia's focus turned to business and industry.

PyCon Namibia 2019 in numbers

the fifth edition of Namibia's annual Python conference
3 days of talks and workshops
75 attendees, including experienced software professionals and complete newcomers to programming
- ...from at least 15 different countries
- ...including 12 PyNam Scholars (school-age students)
12 workshops
- ...including a Django Girls workshop with 30 additional attendees
15 talks
- ...including dozens of lightning talks
18 sponsors
- ...including 4 Namibian sponsors
about one half of our attendees and one third of our speakers were women

Achievements at PyCon NA 2019

Each PyCon Namibia has built on the previous year's efforts (you can also read about what we achieved in 2018).

Previous years have successfully furthered the development of the Namibian Python programming community, and have helped push Python into school and higher education curricula. This year, our aim was to introduce a stronger business focus to the conference, with talks and workshops on topics such as data science, ecommerce, and finance.

PyNam Scholars working as Django Girls coaches

Once again the PyNam Scholars demonstrated that the skills they learn are quickly shared with new users and spread in the local community.

Data science talks and workshops

Our talks and workshops on data science and analysis with Python proved to be extremely popular, and indicate a field where Python skills in Namibia will be in high demand in industry.

Advanced Python application topics

Namibian speakers who have been involved in the conference since its inception demonstrated how local skills in programming and presentation have developed dramatically.

Presentation of original academic research

New work was introduced at the event; here, academic research applying data management and auditing techniques to business applications.

Talks and workshops

Both absolute newcomers to programming and highly experienced software professionals come to PyCon Namibia, and our talks and workshops reflected this.

We held a packed programme of sessions over three days.