How did you hear about the Python community?
When I moved to the Research IT team in 2023 there were already plans in progress regarding adding more programming language-based groups to the CaDiR space, with Python being one of them. As a Python user for a number of years prior, it was already one of my languages of choice, and so I was involved in starting up the group.
What is your role at the University and how does it interact with the Python community?
I am a Research Software Engineer (RSE), and with Python being one of the most popular programming languages out there, software engineering intertwines with it in many ways. A decent proportion of the projects that the RSE team work on involve Python in some way or another, so the chances are that most people in the team and therefore the projects that they work on touch on part of the Python ecosystem. Personally, over the last few years, I have worked on projects involving popular libraries such as pytorch, opencv and FastAPI.
Part of what we also do in the RSE team is training researchers in aspects of software engineering, including programming, via Carpentries-style Python lessons, amongst others.
How did you get into your domain?
The usual RSE story: I’ve been developing code as part of research since my PhD in Leeds and then various postdoctoral positions (oomph-lib, ROAM, vxl, SpiNNaker) in different academic disciplines across Manchester since 2007. I discovered the RSE community upon starting my final postdoc position in 2017 and soon after attending RSECon17 in Manchester, and haven’t looked back, forward or sideways at other academic roles since then.
What does your role in the Python group involve?
As one of the leads of the Python group it currently involves making sure there are interesting and varied conversations around the Python ecosystem taking place. Over time this may evolve into a more structured space with actual meetings, but for now watch this space!
What would you like to see the Python group doing over the next 12 months?
I'd love to see researchers and PGRs posting interesting conversation starters. No one should be afraid to ask questions, and if researchers have any ideas for building the community up more then we’d love to hear them. If there is interest in making our group into a more structured space then we have the opportunity to do so.
What do you hope to come out of the Python community?
I would like to see the group evolve into somewhere where researchers can easily find out information about anything Python-related that’s going on across the university. The more people that are involved, the better so we really are encouraging the research community to post and interact!
How can members of the Python community support you / get involved?
Come and join us on CaDiR – find a post and comment on it, start a new conversation, or ask for help on anything you need advice on! We'd like to see more researchers instigating conversations as there must be so many questions relating to Python, topics for discussion or great examples of Python usage out there.
What do you enjoy most about the Python group?
As with anything related to Python, it’s the variety of projects that can be attempted using Python that is most interesting to me. Anything from machine learning to web scraping to interactive data analysis and a whole lot more could be discussed!
It’s also great to see posts on the group from people who have attended conferences like PyConUK and to hear their reports on what’s currently being worked on.
Fun fact?
A decent amount of RSE-adjacent programmers like to get involved with Advent of Code each year to keep their problem-solving skills up to date. If you’re one of those people, or you’ve never tried it before, then you’re welcome to join our (private) UoM CaDiR leaderboard using the code 446445-8ef259ef and join the conversation here.
