Letting go of Django: Under the Hood
Published on 28th Feb 2018 by the DUTH team
Even when something has been great, sometimes you have to let go. We won't be organising more editions Django: Under the Hood.
When the first ideas were floated for a new conference, in a train in Italy somewhere in 2014, we weren't expecting how big of an event Django: Under the Hood would become. In our second year we sold out in 52 seconds. Over the years, we welcomed 750 attendees, provided over β¬ 10.000 in financial aid to bring 30 people to the conference, and handed out 100.000 kcals in stroopwafels. But it wasn't just big in numbers, but also in how successful it was as a community event. Every year, we also worked hard to be inclusive, welcoming and safe for all attendees and speakers.
As we wrote last year, when we decided to take a break for 2018, organising a conference is exciting, fun, and a great learning experience. However, it also takes tremendous energy, involves stress, and sometimes disappointment. Especially as everyone on our team is a volunteer.
Since organising the last edition in 2016, we have all moved on to do different things in our lives, and focus our energy on other things that we feel passionate about. Therefore, we've decided not to organise further editions. We understand that that may come as a disappointment to some, but we'd encourage you not to be sad that it's over, but rather be happy that it happened.
Organising three editions of Django: Under the Hood has been a wonderful journey for all of us. We've learned so much, not just about organising, but also about ourselves. We're proud of what we created, the impact we had, and feel grateful to everyone who was a part of it.
If you're looking for other conferences to attend or speak at, and especially if you were a sponsor of Django: Under the Hood, we can recommend DjangoCon Europe, in May in Heidelberg, and DjangoCon US, in October in San Diego. A few of the DUTH team are actually co-organising DjangoCon Europe this year. The CFP for DjangoCon Europe has closed, but they are still eager to find sponsors, and tickets are still on sale. DjangoCon US has just opened up for sponsors, and will open ticket sales and CFP later this year.
Thank you for being a part of Django: Under the Hood for these three years, Kasia, Ola, Marc, Paul, Sasha, Ola, Agata, Tomek, Baptiste, Rob & Ania