👋 Hello, world! Greetings from the new pyOS Community Manager

Chicago, cats, and community

I’m thrilled to be joining pyOpenSci (pyOS) as the Community Manager, and bringing my experiences as a researcher, educator, and developer advocate to support the creation and maintenance of free and open Python tools for processing scientific data. I’ve spent most of my adult life building online communities, from video games to programming to data science, and it’s exciting to see so many familiar faces in my first weeks at pyOS.

One of the things I’m most excited to bring to pyOS is the creation of engaging, approachable, and accessible technical content around some of the thornier Python issues, like packaging! Whether it’s blog posts, social media content, or videos, I want to ensure that our educational materials are available to everyone, regardless of geography.

Another area that I’ll be particularly focused on is the pyOS Peer Review program. The Peer Review program with pyOS supports scientists in getting credit for the efforts they’ve invested in open source Python tools, while also supporting the standardization of packaging and improved package visibility. And as the pyOS Community Manager, I want to help celebrate all of the hard work that authors, maintainers, and editors put into package development by sharing behind-the-scenes stories, package announcements, and the contributions of every individual with the broader community.

When I’m not helping build equitable, diverse, and accessible technical communities, I’m chilling with my two cats, Jinx and Luna, or riding my bike on the incredible gravel trails in the Chicago area.

Why pyOpenSci

I first got started in scientific programming during my time as a graduate student in Immunology and Infectious Diseases. Learning R opened up a world of possibility for me, and I eventually used that early experience to build a career in data science. And out of all the learning materials available, I found the community to be the most critical in my success. While I’m no longer spending my days coding, I wanted to continue working with supportive, welcoming, and educational online communities that were focused on helping its members solve technical challenges.

pyOpenSci meets all of those criteria, and the more I learned about its philosophy around community building, as well as all of the ways for people of all levels of technical knowledge to get involved, the more I knew I wanted to be a part of things. I’m still within my first month at the organization, but I can already tell that it’s a special place to be. Keep an eye out, because I’ve already started planning content and activities to help grow our community!