This week we welcome Mridu Bhatnagar (@Mridu__) as our PyDev of the Week! Mridu enjoys giving tech talks. She recently started a Youtube channel and a blog on Python and other tech topics.

Let’s take a few moments to get to know Mridu better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):

Hi, I am Mridu. I am a backend developer by profession. Computer Science and Engineering graduate by degree. I am in the formative years of my career. I love building stuff, converting ideas into working applications, and automating tasks wherever I can.

Other areas of my interest include outdoors – sports, travel, adventure. I have done trekking, hiking, wall-climbing, long-distance cycling, kayaking, and now that I have started I am always on the lookout for an opportunity to do those again and also explore the ones that I haven’t tried so far to face the fears and live the life experiences to the fullest.

I am more of a go alone and meet people kind of person. This gives an opportunity to meet new folks at a variety of meetups(not just tech meetups) from different walks of life, different age groups, an opportunity to indulge in intriguing conversations, and a bunch of new things to learn and get inspired from. Continue reading PyDev of the Week: Mridu Bhatnagar →

This week we welcome Reuven Lerner (@reuvenmlerner) as our PyDev of the Week. Reuven is a trainer who teaches Python and data science all over the world. You can find out more on his website. Reuven also has a newsletter on becoming a better developer that you might enjoy.

Reuven also has the following resources freely available:

• His free, 6-hour “Ace Python Interviews” course
• His free, 15-hour “Python for non-programmers” course
• Weekly Python Exercise, a set of courses to improve your Python fluency
• Reuven’s YouTube Channel

Let’s take some time getting to know Reuven better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):

I grew up in the Northeastern United States, and studied computer science at MIT, graduating in 1992. After working for Hewlett Packard and Time Warner, I moved to Israel in December 1995, opening my own consulting company. I had neither consulted nor run a business at that point, but I was single and optimistic, so I gave it a shot.

I’ve been in business for myself since then, pausing along the way to get a PhD in learning sciences from Northwestern University. My dissertation involved the creation of the Modeling Commons, which allows people to collaborate in the creation of agent-based models.

For years, I did a little bit of everything: I wrote software, did system administration, tuned databases, consulted with companies, and did training. About a decade ago, I realized that training was more fun and more lucrative than development — and that it was a good business practice to specialize in one thing. I’ve been a full-time Python trainer since then. Most days, I teach between 4-10 hours for companies around the world, teaching everything from “Python for non-programmers” all the way up to advanced Python workshops.

I’m married, with three children (20, 18, and 15), and live in Modi’in, a small city halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

As for hobbies, my big obsession over the last few years has been studying Chinese. I find it fun and interesting, and also practical, given that I normally travel to China a few times each year to do corporate training there. (That has obviously been put on hold, thanks to the pandemic.)

Aside from Chinese, I read a lot, especially about current events. I also enjoy doing crosswords, and am steadily getting better at them. Everyone in my family, including me, also enjoys cooking, although I don’t often have a chance to do it as much as I’d like. And as of the start of the pandemic, I’ve been taking very long, very early walks — about 15 km/day, starting at 4 a.m. I have found it a nice, refreshing way to get out in this time of staying
at home. Continue reading PyDev of the Week: Reuven Lerner →

This week we welcome Max Humber (@maxhumber) as our PyDev of the Week! Max is the creator of gazpacho, a “simple, fast, and modern web scraping library” written in Python. Max is also an instructor at O’Reilly media. You can see what other projects Max is working on over on Github.

Let’s take a few moments to get to know Max better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself:

I’m hunkered down in Toronto teaching for O’Reilly and General Assembly. Throwing all of my free time at leveling up my cooking. And looking forward to when I can go see live music, boulder at my gym, and take a pottery class again…
Continue reading PyDev of the Week: Max Humber →

This week we welcome Mary Chester-Kadwell (@marycktech) as our PyDev of the Week! Mary is a software engineer at Cambridge University Library. You can see some of what she’s up to over on Github.

I think you’ll find her journey into Python really interesting. So without further ado, let’s find out more about Mary!

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):

I’m a software engineer at Cambridge University Library in the UK. At work, I split my time between developing software, advising academics and teaching coding with Python. Some of the software I develop is about providing services to library users, but some of it is designed for research projects. I work a lot with students and staff in arts, humanities, social sciences, libraries and museums. I get to dip my toe in all sorts of interesting areas like machine learning, natural language processing, handwriting recognition, and computer vision.

In terms of formal education, my background is a pretty inter-disciplinary mix (I’ve got a PhD in archaeology) so I’ve come into software by an unusual route, and later in life. I see it all as relevant experience because software is a collaboration between humans and computers. As a result, I’m motivated to help others find their path and develop in their coding journeys. If you’ve not got a traditional computer science or STEM background, half the battle is developing the confidence to try coding and the perseverance to keep on trying.

At home, I might tinker with some code or do a deep dive into some personal interest, like the CPython core. But sitting at computers is fundamentally bad for your health! So I try to make time for active things like exercise. I’m also a vegan, because it’s a simple step any individual can take to reduce their carbon emissions. Continue reading PyDev of the Week: Mary Chester-Kadwell →

This week we welcome Kevin Thomas (@mytechnotalent) as our PyDev of the Week. Kevin is the author of Python for Kids, which is “a comprehensive and FREE Online Python Development course FOR KIDS utilizing an official BBC micro:bit Development Board”.

Let’s spend some time getting to know Kevin better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):

My background is non-technical and I am originally from Northeastern Pennsylvania and began programming as a kid. I ran a Commodore 64 Bulletin Board where people would dial-in through the phone. Originally I programmed in the C language and Assembly Language for the x86 platform. Today I am a Senior Software Engineer in Test and program Automation Frameworks in Python. Continue reading PyDev of the Week: Kevin Thomas →