The PyCon US Blog

This is a blog series where we're asking each of our PyConUS 2026 keynote speakers about their journey into tech, how excited they are for PyconUS and any tips they can provide for an awesome conference experience! Here's our interview with Lin Qiao Without giving too many spoilers, tell us what your keynote is about? Most AI products are built on rented land. If your competitor can make the same API call, you do not have a moat. I will break down what the teams pulling ahead are doing differently, with real examples from Cursor, Notion, and Vercel, and get into the hard tradeoffs nobody talks about enough. How did you get started in tech/Python? My path into tech started pretty naturally. I studied STEM all through high school and undergrad, so it was always the space I gravitated toward. Python specifically came later, during my PhD, where I started using it to run experiments and support my research papers. What do you think the most important work you've ever done is?...

Welcome to our annual blog series where we're asking each of our PyConUS 2026 keynote speakers about their journey into tech, how excited they are for Pycon US and any tips they can provide for an awesome conference experience! Thank you to Rachell and Tim for this interview! You can learn more about their keynote on the PyConUS Keynote Speakers page and you can also attend their meet and greet at the PSF Booth in the Expo Hall on Friday May 15 from 1 to 2pm PT. Without giving any too many spoilers, tell us what your keynote is about?  Tim: Did Rachell answer this question already? Can I cheat off her response? No? Hmm... Well, it's about Djangonaut Space , a contributor mentorship program for members of the Django community. It'll talk about why the founders created it, what it does, how it works, and why it works. If you're a part of an open-source community or want to be a part of an open-source community, you may find the talk interesting. We've tackled some...

Six Pathways Through the Talks Finding your way through three days of world-class Python content PyCon US 2026 runs May 13–19 in Long Beach, California, and with over 100 talks across five rooms over three days, the schedule can feel like a lot to navigate. The good news: whether you came to go deep on Python performance, level up your security knowledge, get practical Python insights for agentic AI, or finally understand what all the async fuss is about, there's a clear path through the content that's built for you. Register now to get in on the full experience.  We mapped six attendee pathways through the full talks schedule with a bonus tutorial to pair with it, each one a curated sequence of sessions that focuses on a core Python topic. Think of them less as tracks and more as through-lines. Pick the one that matches where you are and what you want to walk away with to integrate into your work. Python Performance: From Memory to Metal If you want to understand why your ...