PyCon Zimbabwe aims to bring together Python programmers from all over the country and Africa to help introduce Python programming to communities under PyCon.
The project expects to host a Python conference where they plan to introduce people to Python programming.
According to Wiki, Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.
The project aims to bridge the Python skills gap in Africa and its coordinators had this to say:
The digital revolution has reached African shores too, and it’s going to be more important than ever in Africa. Programming lies at the heart of information technology, and all across the continent,African websites, applications and other ICT projects all need good programmers. Right now, across much of Africa, huge ICT projects are outsourced to European or American companies, meaning that precious funds leave the continent and key skills don’t get a chance to develop.
We want to change that – help us sow the seeds of an open-source future in Africa, in which African skills and African people are able to build the projects Africa needs.
The PyCon project has already hosted a successful conference in Namibia.
It also runs workshops called Django Girls all over the world which promotes girls interest in programming and teaches how to build websites.
In Zimbabwe, there is an existing chapter called Django Girls Harare.
The International PyCon program is funded by the Python Software Foundation but the Zimbabwean chapter is self-funding due to political constraints (sanctions).
Therefore the project used crowdfunding as its only source of funding.
PyCon Zimbabwe uses the 1 % club-do good funding platform to crowdfund.
PyCon is a non-profit community conference, all the crowdfunding proceeds will go towards hosting the event.
PyCon is a great initiative and shows what crowdfunding can achieve.
The crowdfunding route helps bypass any political roadblocks that usually scare off donors and opens up projects, programs and conferences to the assistance of international communities.
The PyCon Zim is current 81% funded with 37 days to go!
Expect to hear about PyCon Zimbabwe soon.
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7 comments
Wow this is a great initiative…always wanted to attend pycon
I wanted to give what l can afford, it shouted at me:
C’mon, don’t be silly! Give them at least 5 euro
You are absolutely right about Python. Lets be clear that we are talking about Python 3.x, not Python 2.x. Taught a distributed processing course at Chinhoyi University of Technology last year that used Python 3.x. Mr. Elliot Mbunge, my aide, gave a seminar on that language during the tutorials and labs. That is a common cloud language. Especially look at RedHat OpenShift if you want to get free access for learning. See my seminar slides at http://InformationAnthology.net/CloudComputingWorkshop.zip.
Great initiative. I hope people benefit from this
please techzim give us updates on dates of the conference
The Conference will be held from the 24th to the 25th of November 2016. The conference website is http://zw.pycon.org. Or you can follow @pycon_zim for more information
The Conference will be held from the 24th to the 25th of November 2016. The conference website is http://zw.pycon.org. Or you can follow @pycon_zim for more information