Come for the Code Stay for the Commnunity

"Come for the language, stay for the community." If you've been around Python long enough, you've heard this before. I don't know when I first heard it, but I know exactly when I understood it.

This talk is a personal reflection on seventeen years within the Python community—from my first tentative steps as a volunteer to organising conferences myself. It's a story about discovering that Python was always about more than code. It's about the people, the values, and the unexpected ways a community can shape a career and a life.

This isn't just my story. It's a story I've seen repeated in countless faces at registration desks, in hallway conversations, in first-time speakers finding their voice. I want to talk about what I've learned about kindness, mentorship, and the quiet power of feeling like you belong somewhere.

I'll end with an open question: as the ways we connect continue to evolve, how do we preserve what matters while welcoming a new generation?

If you're new to this community and wondering what all the fuss is about, this talk is especially for you.

Transcript

1. Come for the Code, Stay for the People. Valerio Maggio PyCon DE & PyData 2026 · Darmstadt
2. Hello! My name is Valerio
3. I have a confession. After seventeen years and countless technical talks, this is the first time for me to talk about community.
4. Who Is This Talk For?
5. There are always newcomers. People experiencing their first Python event, This talk is for them. unsure of what to expect, wondering if they belong.
6. Quick show of hands... Is this your first PyCon?
7. And also for anyone who... Works with Communities Maintains open source projects Cares about the spaces they inhabit
8. Almost Seventeen years ago... it started the way many do.
9. Volunteering Stuffing badge holders Directing people to rooms Answering Wi-Fi questions (a hundred times)
10. A few excerpts... ...of the beginning of my journey in the Python community.
11. PyCon Italia Tre, 2009 My first ever PyCon conference.
12. The Python Italia Crew
13. PyCon Italia III, 2009
14. I came for the code.
15. Guido van Rossum PyCon Italia III, May 2009 Google App Engine Raymond Hettinger PyCon Italia III, May 2009 “new” itertools
16. I came for the code. I had no idea I'd stay for the people.
17. The same venue that hosted PyCon Italia for more than 10 years. Florence became home.
18. It was not just Python conferences… … Django, PyData, Scientific Python... Each with their own personality, their own traditions, their own way of making you feel at home.
19. 2013 2014
20. BCC
23. …I’m very excited to be here today… I was here
27. Standing on the shoulders of a giant keynote Naomi Ceder "Come for the Language, Stay for the Community" EuroPython 2016, Bilbao
28. "I don't know about the rest of you... I came for the language, but I stayed for the community." Brett Cannon, Python Core Dev PyCon US 2014 Opening Remarks
29. I came for the code. Why Python is so🫰?
30. Python and Data Science Python became the lingua franca of data science. Not because it was the fastest. Because it was the most welcoming. Readability counts. Simple is better than complex. NumPy, SciPy, pandas, scikit-learn, Jupyter...
31. The Evolution of Python From "scripting language" to powerhouse Python 2 Readable, teachable, powerful, elegant From Py2 to Py3 Scepticism, debates, the long migration... Python 3 today f-strings, type hints, async/await, pattern matching Beautiful, expressive, modern
32. Python 3.14 and beyond The future is bright Free-threaded Python (no-GIL) A fundamental shift in concurrency JIT compiler Performance improvements, step by step Deferred evaluation of annotations Better developer experience The language keeps evolving, because the community keeps pushing.
33. What makes this community special? Inclusive Safe, Respectful, Open Contributions welcome New people contributing in meaningful ways Organised by us You, me, all of us (from Naomi’s Keynote, EP2016) Diverse and Globally Distributed Meetups, PyLadies, DjangoGirls, Sprints | America, Europe, Africa
34. But where does the community sit today? 10 years after Naomi's keynote...What has changed?
35. A lot has changed. The Python community in 2026 is… … bigger. More diverse. More global. And it faces new challenges.
36. New ways to gather Online conferences PyJamas (pyjamas.live) - a 24h online Python conference PyData Global (pydata.org/global2025) - data scientists worldwide Hybrid formats In-person + remote attendance Reaching people who can't travel The pandemic forced innovation. The community kept it.
37. Not just big cities anymore Community is no longer just in the capitals. Python communities everywhere: PyCon Namibia, PyCon Africa, PyCon APAC PyCon Colombia, PyCon Pakistan, PyCon Thailand PyData Sudwest, PyData Eindhoven, PyData Bristol Local meetups in small towns & University Python groups.
38. pythondeadline.es A fantastic archive of Python conferences All Python events in one place! Community tools built by community members. This is what "contributions welcome" looks like. Thank you, Jesper Dramsch!
39. How we communicate has changed The channels changed. The need for connection didn't. 2016 Mailing lists, IRC, blogs, in-person 2026 Discord, Mastodon, YouTube, Twitch Short-form video, live coding, podcasts
40. The AI question AI changed who writes Python and how Python is written. How do we welcome them? How do we maintain depth? New voices, new users, new questions. People who never thought they'd code.
41. Sustainability matters The community runs on volunteers. How do we sustain them? Open source maintainer burnout is real. Conference organiser fatigue is real. This is perhaps the most important question for the next 10 years.
42. Before it had a name For years, people did this work without a job title. • Organising conferences. • Mentoring newcomers. • Writing tutorials. • Giving talks. • Building bridges. It was just... what community people did.
43. Then someone gave it a name And many of us simply… transitioned: Same passion. New Job Title Developer Relations Developer Advocacy. Developer Experience. The voice of the developer inside the company. The voice of the company in the developer community.
44. The DevRel Outreach toolkit Conferences and more… Content creation Live coding streams Community platforms Documentation Open source engagement Developer experience The same channels the community adopted became the DevRel playbook.
45. DevRel and sustainability DevRel sustains the community that sustains the ecosystem. DevRel can bridge corporate resources and community needs. But whether it's your job title or your Saturday morning: the things that actually hold a community together aren't in any playbook...
46. More Than Code What Seventeen years taught me
47. Patience & Kindness “ Because we were all beginners once.
48. Explicit Inclusion “ 'Everyone is welcome' means nothing without deliberate action.
49. The Power of Mentorship Receiving Someone believed in you before you did. Giving You become the person you needed back then.
50. Active Maintenance “ Community health requires active maintenance, not passive hope.
51. This is the Python Community
52. This is what “stay for the people” actually means (to me!).
53. Take a moment... Think of one person in this community who made a difference for you.
54. Looking Forward Questions, not conclusions
55. How do we engage with a generation that communicates differently?
56. How do we preserve depth in an age of fragmented attention? How do we engage with a generation that communicates differently?
57. What can newcomers teach us about building community? How do we preserve depth in an age of fragmented attention? How do we engage with a generation that communicates differently?
58. Over to you. What does 'stay for the people' mean to you?
59. Thank you. Valerio Maggio PyCon DE & PyData 2026 · Darmstadt Let's keep talking.