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Jannis who?

My name is Jannis Leidel, better known in the Python and Django community under my alias jezdez, and I have been a Python developer for 12 years.

For the last 6 years I’ve worked at Mozilla, first as a web developer on the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN web docs) and later as a software and data engineer working on data analysis tools for the Firefox Data Pipeline.

Experience

I have experience in writing, maintaining and managing Open Source projects, e.g.

  • Google Summer of Code student for Django, to integrate it with Python packaging tools, 2007
  • Django Core Team member 2009-2018
    • translation coordinator
    • Technical Board member
    • founder and member of Django Ops team
    • maintainer of the Django website
    • co-lead of first Django fundraising campaign and platform
  • Founder and member of the German Django non-profit, since 2009
  • pip and virtualenv core developer and release manager, 2009-2013
  • Chairman of DjangoCon Europe, 2010, Berlin, Germany
  • Founder of the Python Packaging Authority (PyPA), 2011, to take ownership for pip and virtualenv from Ian Bicking
  • Developer and admin for the Python Package Index (aka Cheeseshop), 2012-2013
  • Django Software Foundation board member, 2014-2015
  • Mentor at first Django Girls tutorial, 2014, Berlin, Germany
  • Google Summer of Code mentor and admin for Django and Mozilla for multiple years
  • Caniusepython3.com — Developer of the web version of Brett Cannon’s caniusepython3 CLI tool
  • Jazzband — Creator and “roadie” of a collaborative community on GitHub to share the responsibility of maintaining Python projects
  • Mozilla-internal champion for the successful MOSS (Mozilla Open Source Software program) grant for the PSF to improve sustainability of the Python Package Index (PyPI)
  • Co-maintainer of Redash — A Open Source software for teams to query, visualize and collaborate with data, since 2018
  • Developer or maintainer of many other Python packages: PyPI, GitHub

Nothing of this would have been possible without the support and encouragement from strangers that I met on the internet.

Personal board goals

The reasons why I’d like to run for the PSF board are two-fold at the moment.

I look forward to refining them based on my guiding principles together with my fellow board members and community colleagues.

Guiding principles

  • Community building means clear values, an ethical mission, diverse backgrounds and respectful collaboration.
  • Trust those with domain knowledge and support everyone to attain it.
  • Build partnerships, not silos.

1. Support and extend the use of Python for a community of people by lowering the barrier for educational, scientific and commercial use

  • Increase spending on opportunity and project grants as a key part of the PSF’s mission.
  • Introduce paid Python internships in PSF member organizations to create the next generation of Python community members.
  • More closely associate the PSF with other organizations that overlap in their missions, e.g. pool funds or collaborate on common goals like grant-giving.

2. Build and strengthen the PSF’s role in the research and development of the Python language and ecosystem

  • Create an R&D arm in the PSF that allows the community of organizations (e.g. PSF member organizations) to easier reinvest in Python as a foundational technology for their success.
  • Enable the Scientific Python community to more closely engage the Python language community in working with emerging technologies such as WebAssembly.
  • Engage with documentation, design, security and project management experts to strengthen Python’s ongoing work in those fields.