 Yes, I forgot about this little bit of time Do we have the news the next speaker because I want I want them in order to pronounce your name Hello Hi Hello, everyone. I am yes, we you can also call me. Yeah, you can also call me yes She if you find my name a bit of a tongue twister so Yeah, I think I'll start with my tongue then All right, and you're going to talk to us about personal growth and the Python community, right? Yeah Awesome. Okay. I'll leave you to it then Thanks, so hello everyone today. I will be giving a talk on personal growth and the Python community So I'm yes, I see you can call me yes She and I'm currently a student researcher at Samsung a community builder and an avid Pythonista So before I start with the session today, I would like to walk you people through today's agenda First we will be discussing of what exactly is an open-tech community Then I will be sharing my journey before I joined Python community Followed by what impact this community had on me Then I will share about the various benefits which come along with being a part of any other community here I'll mostly focus on the Python community then how and where to start from if you want to make the best out of your community experience and Lastly, we will be discussing about pilates So without any further ado, let's get started So coming to the first question is what exactly is an open-tech community an Open-tech community. It is nothing but it is a group of people who are passionate about certain technology Certain programming language or any technical domain and they come together to find like-minded people Learn more from each other and explore that particular technologies use cases There's no specific eligibility criteria to become a part of these communities You do not have to pass any tests or you know any interviews All you need is that the interest and willingness to learn however, there are certain communities which are Focused on encouraging the under-represented groups in tech So if you do not belong to those groups, then I think that you cannot you know join those communities However, you can always explore other communities which are out there These communities they organize a lot of meet-ups social gatherings hackathons Conferences with the primary aim of encouraging of sharing of knowledge amongst participants and to support new innovative ideas So if you're starting to learn something new some new technology and you don't know where to you know go about How to start you do not have any fear to start with go about with Join any community and you will find like-minded people here. So Talking about I joined a Python community So here I have a small story of mine to share with all of you and I feel that Anybody is going through similar circumstances. They would you know know what to do so back in my first year I joined this coding club in my college and I Like this club had you know just started and I joined the technical domain which was mainly focused on machine learning and data science and So how things used to work in this domain were that we were asked to do Certain tasks initially when we were when we joined we were trainees So we were asked to do online courses which then you know change to doing Small projects Kaggle notebooks and then we used to have reviews for that So I was you know very very thankful to become a part of the technical domain I was so happy because of that and I you know always stuck to my deadlines I was very particular about them about my reviews and I worked really very hard so that you know There's nothing goes wrong in my reviews so this used to happen and Coming one year ahead when I was in my sophomore year. I saw that you know my classmates my peers Who were the part of other clubs? They were getting a chance to take up different different sessions not Focused on technical sessions, but any other session that they were you know into so one of my friend He also gave a talk on graphic designing So I you know knew that this is something which is coming to my club very soon And I had never given a talk before and I was so excited You know that if there's some bigger data science event I would definitely would love to give a talk on that so when this opportunity came I was not considered to give a talk and There were two other guys who were you know given this opportunity to go up and give a talk now I did feel sad, but More than being sad. I felt very confused now Feeling confused. I thought you know I need to put an end to this confusion and I went up to my seniors and talk to them regarding this on You know, where did I lag behind or why I wasn't I even considered to give a beginner session of data science Because you know, I had good hold on the basic Python libraries that were being taught in that event So, you know, they gave some excuses They said that it was a mistake and you will be surely given a chance in the next event that takes place However, when there was a next event I was given a line or two to introduce the club and there was no technical session as such I was given to take up But you know I you know kind of let it slide past. I just thought you know maybe next session I would be given a chance Now the second thing that happened was it was back in March 2020 So the speaker thing was happening in Jan 2020 and back in March 2020 the COVID crisis had hit our country So all our colleges were closed and we had to go back to our home and we were you know attending all the club meetings using all these like on Zoom platform and We were asked to do group projects. So I was the only girl in the technical domain at that point of time So I teamed up with two other guys. So just to avoid any confusion Let's say guy a and guy B were my teammates So guy a was proposing his you know the project idea to the seniors and the seniors, you know, they asked like You know, what are your views? What are your inputs? How do you like to you know would like to take the project further? So I thought you know just because he is proposing the idea. That's why they're asking him However, they came up to the guy B as well and asked him similar question So now I was like, okay, this question is very soon coming up to me and I need to prep up an answer However after asking guy B. They said, okay, fine. You can know continue with the project. I was like wait Did they not see that I was present in the meeting or did they not know that I'm also there in the team like in that project thing So, you know, I kind of felt like okay There's some problem from their side and I'd really need to talk because this is something like I my existence and my Views and inputs are not just being considered at all So I went up to my technical lead this time because he was almost like Responsible for all the technical stuff that was happening in the club events projects, etc So I went up to him. I was talking to him. I think I asked too many questions in very short Time so, you know, I just might push him to the brink that he said, you know I don't feel that you that have that confidence to you know present a club before Like college students and give up a technical session give a technical session there After listening to this, you know, I had been in club for like more than one year and I felt that I do not know these people properly and I did not know what to say So I completed the project that I was working on and last year in July 2020. I left the club I left it with very little exposure. I did not know about any, you know, open tech communities that they were outside I had a lot of stage fright. I have it now as well and Little knowledge of text. So I was, you know, always just thinking about machine learning data science I was not only thinking of what other things can be done to explore other things And my self-esteem, my self-confidence was hitting rock-bottoms after this incident So now in part of the Python community now, this is where the happy part of my story starts I was on call with my friend after leaving the club and I was asking him, you know, if you know about some community outside Out in the city not in the college Tell me about it. So he told me about a person Who was the organizer of PyCon India at that point of time and he was active in other communities as well So he asked me, you know, you can, you know, reach out to this person on Twitter And he might suggest you something really good So this is what I did I reached out to this person on Twitter and he asked me if I was, you know Interested in becoming a part of PyLadies Chennai Now I had never heard of PyLadies at that point of time I did not know what PyLadies was, but the name was quite self-explanatory and, you know, I felt Like this community will be having, you know, women with similar interests as me working in Python So let's join this community and let's see what it has in store I was accompanied with one friend of mine as well. She also had Similar experiences as me in the other college club that she was a part of We both joined this community. It was our first meeting and we were giving our introduction So my friend, she was, you know, very nervous while she was giving her introduction And after, you know, she was stammering in between So after she had given her introduction fully, she said, you know, in a very apologetic tone You know, please pardon me because I am very, very nervous and like low self-confidence And this is something which is also stopping me from giving some sessions outside in public speaking Activities, I'm not able to participate Our organizer of PyLadies Chennai, she was so supportive. She said, you know, if you have to break out of that shell You need to come out of your shell, okay? If you really want to do something And we are here to fully support you And the first meet-up that we organized after becoming a part of PyLadies Chennai Was my friend's first ever session that she gave, a session on CSS art She's a great CSS artist and after that, you know, she became so confident that she went on to give other sessions And right now she is also, you know, running her YouTube channel So yeah, after becoming the part of the community like PyLadies Chennai We organized a lot of meet-ups through those meet-ups I get to learn I got to learn a lot of things. I learned how to deploy ML models I learned how to use Python and Tulio together to make a word of the SMS bot Then the guidance from the seniors who were there in our community, it was great Most of our seniors, they were working in the industry. So, you know, as people in college, we were kind of, you know Knowing what is expected from us in industry and, you know, how we should be leading our college life And it should not be taking so much tension about getting into industry as soon as possible So talking to so many people, it did boost my confidence a lot So the various initiatives that I was working on by becoming a part of PyLadies Chennai So there were, there was this initiative of Saturday shout-out So what we used to do here is that we are still actually working on it and Here we interview various women and about their journey in tech so far, about their Challenges that they have faced and how did they overcome and how, you know, they went about achieving so much And we publish a blog with that interview that we take from them So through this initiative, I got to interact with a lot of women and I'm still interacting with a lot of women And I got to know about their journey How did they, you know, overcome their challenges? Then the monthly meetups that we were organizing So we had to reach out to different speakers. We had to do different stuff We had to, you know, look out for that or social media outreach So by doing all of this my communication skills, I did not even realize but my communication skills polished a lot And yeah, so technical projects Whenever I think this is something which is very common whenever you are doing some project You do get stuck up at some place and you have to, you know, you have doubts Community is very helpful at that point of as well I remember I just used to, you know, post it in the group, you know, I'm facing this issue There might be, you know, people might take some time to reply But there will be someone or the other who will definitely reach out to you for that This is my personal experience that I have seen And finally, my journey as a speaker started In February 2021, I gave my first ever technical session at Five Ladies After that, I went on to give different sessions at Women Who Code, Women in AI And today I am giving my first ever international talk at EuroPython So, you know, exactly one year after, you know, in July 2020, I left the club, you know, with My self esteem hitting rock bottom and today I am giving a talk here So if in one line if I would have to sum it up of how this community has impacted me I would say that I feel empowered Now coming to the benefits which come along with the Python community Learn Grow Evolve, you get to learn a lot from different people here And it's not only the technical knowledge that you gain from people It's also the different advices that they give You cannot make all your mistakes, right? You have to learn from other people's experiences And that is, you know, I have done so much after becoming the power of community I have interacted with so many people This helps us to grow as a better person and we evolve a lot The supportive environment here is, I don't know, like it was awesome You might be an absolute beginner, absolute beginner You might not be having any skill And there would be some person who would be, you know, like in my language, super skill But they would be so down to earth And they would help you out if you are, you know, just stuck up in something Which might be, you know, very common for them or something Which is not that big for them And they would be like, it is easy to do it However, they will help you out This is like, people have helped me out And the community is very inclusive of everybody of, you know, different people From different demographics There's no bias on base on gender, ethnicity, etc So this year, in May 2021, I attended PyCon US So not only was this my first ever PyCon This was my first ever international conference that I was attending And, like, I got to interact with so many people on the PyCon US platform On their, you know, open spaces I got to interact with people from Google, Microsoft, Python Software Foundation, Bloomberg Since, you know, I am, you know, aspiring to be a software engineer Or getting into data science machine learning I was talking to this person from Bloomberg He is a software engineer there And he was telling me about, I think he graduated in 2017 And he was telling me about, you know, how did he prepare for his interviews How he was doing And he also told me about his company's culture And what is expected of, you know, the freshers who are joining So I got a really good insight And, like, I talked to him for a good amount of time And, you know, he gave me a lot of advice on interview preparation And how to go about it Then I remember I got into the open space for Python Software Foundation And all the PSF fellows were sitting there And I was so much intimidated, like, oh my God, these are God-level people I thought, you know, I will just sit in there Quietly, I'll just see whatever they are talking about And then I'll just sneak out However, when I entered So they were the ones who, you know, first greeted me And they, you know, got me involved in the conversation itself And I, you know, shared my experience I, you know, I just forgot, like, all that thing that I was going in my mind Before joining the open space And I was so happy, you know, to talk to them To share my experience in the Python community till then And, yeah So, like I said, by becoming the part of the community You would not even realize when your communication and technical skills grow Like, you will be, you know, talking to people, doing stuff Just like that And then you would, you know, like so happy You would not even realize on how they have grown so well Interacting with people from all around the world So what has happened because of this pandemic I know it has been very hard However, communities, they have grown very much closer virtually On the virtual space So initially all these events, they were organized And they were organized in a particular region So they were accessible to people who were in their region But now, if you are interested, you might be in any other part of the world And you can, you know, attend their conference meetups and etc For me, like, Python US, I would not be able to attend it this year Had it not been virtual So, yeah And the great amount of knowledge that is shared So I remember attending my first mentored open source print I did not even know that there's something called mentored open source print dev sprints So I attended one of those and I got a PR merged in NumPy So I'm a complete noob in open source right now I contributed to their documentation And the feeling that I had, oh my god My PR got merged in NumPy Oh my god, I had been using NumPy for so long And when, you know, that got so this is the thing Like my open source journey, it started from here And the workshops and the networking open spaces That, you know, there are in the different conferences They are really very helpful that, you know, you get to learn a lot And you get to interact with people a lot Now, coming to the question, how and where to start from This is something, you know, my juniors and my peers, they asked me a lot, you know We just get added to the conversation channel or the community And then we are just sitting there We do not know how to, you know, go about it So here, like there's no certain roadmap regarding that However, you know, I can share my journey on how did I go about it So first and foremost thing is that you need to explore the different communities That you would like to join And you have to see that if those communities They align with your interest That is very important So, you know, go up to their official pages Do a little research And there are a whole lot of communities Like Google Developers Group, Women Who Code, Python Community If you're looking for student-based communities You have Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors community All of these communities, they have their conversation channel So like Slack, Zulip, etc For those of you who do not know Zulip Zulip is an open source project It is a similar conversation channel Just like Slack, however, it's a bit confusing But you do get, grow accustomed to using it as you join it So there are two communities that I have been a part of And they use Zulip, Anita B Open Source Team And PyCon India These two communities, I know that they are using Zulip So the most important part is to take initiative and talk to people This is something which is very, very important If you need to make, you know, your community experience really worth it I know this is very, it's not very easy for everyone I am introvert myself It was, you know, very much difficult for me to, you know, Going up to the person, talk to them Whole lot of things were going in my mind So if you happen to meet them offline So, you know, just walk up to them, talk to them And if it's an online space Reach out to them on different social media platforms Like Linden Twitter And I know many times you might not get the reply that you were expecting Or you might not even get a reply But do not lose your heart because of that It is not only one person who forms the community, right? There are a lot of people Reach out to as many people as you can Talk to them And mostly I've seen community people are very welcoming So, you know, there's nothing like that They do not reply to you or anything like that Reach out to organizers of the community This is something that I have done Had I not reached out to the organizer of Python I would not have been knowing what PyLadies is And had not been, you know, a part of it And I did reach out the organizer of Women Who Port Data Science Chapter You know, because I used to fill out their volunteer form But I did not receive any reply So there might have been some glitches on the back end So the next time when I fill the form This time I sent a request to all the evangelists Of that particular community And, you know, I talked to them and I told them Like the first one who accepted my request I told her, you know, how much I'm interested in this field And I really, really want to be a part of this community So after that, not only did I become the part of their community But I also got to take a possession So, yeah Then network with as many people as you can in a community With networking, it's not only the technical knowledge As I've said before You get to learn from their experiences You talk to people You get to learn how they have, you know Pace challenges in their life How they have, you know, grown out of them And then yes, you get a lot of opportunities You might get that job or an internship That you had been looking for You might find the very teammate that you were looking for To participate in a hackathon Or to, you know, collaborate on some project And in mentors, you might find a great mentor for you Like in my case, I have found really very good mentors Then collaborate on different events and projects Now, this is one very important skill No matter wherever you go Whatever job you might apply or wherever you are You need to have that skill You need to know how to work in a team So on, you know, collaborating on the different initiatives In a community that increases this, you know That helps you to grow this quality of yours I have collaborated in a lot of events Like when we used to organize meetups We are still organizing them Even the Saturday shout-out initiative That I was a part of We were like, if I was interviewing a woman Someone else was, you know, making the poster Someone else was helping with the social media outreach In the meetups, if somebody was working, you know Reaching out to the speaker I was helping with the social media outreach And this way, you know, you get to know How to put out a successful project out there with a team Now, coming to PyLeadies This community is really very close to my heart This is where my whole community adventure started PyLeadies is an international mentorship group Which focuses on increasing the participation Of women in Python Open Community However, if you even identify as a non-binary individual You're most welcome to join It is a part of the Python Software Foundation And it was founded in 2011 It increases diversity in the Python Open Community By organizing various outreach and educational events Conferences, social gatherings, hackathons And PyLeadies has more than 40 chapters around the world So for those of you who do not know what a chapter is A chapter is nothing but it is a local or a regional branch Of that global organization, main organization And both of them share the same mission So, yeah And as I said that these communities They have grown very much closer virtually Even if you do not find a chapter nearby you Join the global Slack channel of PyLeadies See all the different channels which are present in there And you will find You might find a chapter that really interests you Or is working on the particular technologies That you are interested in So this was it I was like really was delighted to have given this talk And thanks for having me here If you want to talk to me more about community building How to become a part of community Or even other topics that you feel I am experienced in Do reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn The handle is right in front of you Thank you so much Thank you so much Ashie Ashie for sharing your experience And evangelizing PyLeadies It's great that we have an amazing community That builds these little communities That help people to be more involved Yeah, thanks Unfortunately we don't have time to go for the questions So I am going to have to say bye to you Thanks for coming Yeah Thank you so much