Episode 2: with Karolina Ladino

Episode 2: with Karolina Ladino
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00:21 Hello Everyone
00:24 It's great to
00:25 have this episode because we have a very special guest.
00:28 We have Karo here.
00:31 Do you want to say hi?
00:32 Hi, everyone. Thank you, Cheuk.
00:35 Thank you, Mariatta, for the invitation.
00:36 So this episode would be Mariatta and I would be here
00:40 to have a chat with Karo, to see her journey in
00:45 Python and see what she's been doing and, yeah, hope that,
00:50 you know, people can get inspired from her story.
00:53 So, first of all, maybe I would
00:56 like to ask Karo some question.
00:58 Maybe before all these more deep dive questions,
01:02 do you want to tell a little bit
01:03 about yourself and about kind of why Python?
01:07 Why you start Python?
01:10 Yeah, it's a really big question.
01:15 Usually, sometimes we forgot about what we have been
01:18 doing in our life and how we can inspire
01:21 other people, but usually that is not something that
01:24 we are thinking all the time. Right.
01:27 So I will try to put together what
01:31 I was thinking to answer to that question.
01:33 That is, like, why Python?
01:36 I really don't know the, like, reason or root for that.
01:41 I think it was like, a mix of reasons
01:44 that was happening in my life at that moment.
01:46 And someone told me, like, yeah, you should
01:48 try MicroPython, because I was struggling with some
01:51 projects in that moment, and someone told me
01:53 that, and I was maybe, yes.
01:55 I started looking videos and reaching out more people
01:58 and another professor in the university that he was
02:02 trying to teach us more Python in our laboratories
02:06 and exercise, and everyone was like, no, we want
02:09 to stick with C, but that's it.
02:11 Because we were working more with microprocessors
02:15 in that moment, and everyone was like.
02:19 So is it related to your work, or is
02:21 it something that you studied before?
02:23 Maybe you can tell us a
02:24 little bit about your background.
02:25 Like, what do you do now?
02:27 Yeah, well, I have a background in robotics engineer, and
02:31 I also have a master's degree in data analytics.
02:35 And I have been working in the
02:37 hardware industry, creating machines, robot like installations
02:44 animatronics and sort of things.
02:47 I'm more related with the art industry,
02:49 like galleries and helping artists to create
02:52 different installations and art pieces.
02:56 And, like, about five years ago, I start to get
03:02 more involved in the software industry, helping more people.
03:06 I started as a project manager, and
03:08 then I become a product manager.
03:11 So right now, I'm helping more.
03:13 Like, I'm working more in product
03:15 creation, product design, product development.
03:19 Will you say you self-learn Python?
03:23 Yeah, I started myself and I got help.
03:27 I really received many help from my professor, and then
03:33 he told me, there is something in the Internet, like,
03:37 looking for you to look for at that moment was plexi
03:40 and look for other different places that are trying to
03:44 teach in the journey, the easy journey in Python.
03:49 And at some point I found a Slack, that was Python Colombia.
03:54 So I found the link to join Python
03:57 Colombia and I was really welcoming and everyone
04:00 was like, yeah, here are all the channels.
04:02 Like a rain of channels, all the Slacks that we have.
04:07 And it was like, you can introduce yourself here and
04:09 you can ask your questions here and these are the
04:12 list of topics that you can be talking about Python.
04:14 So I then start understanding all the ecosystem behind Python and
04:19 it was a really open mind at that moment.
04:23 I was only expecting that the same that
04:27 we expect in the academy, that you learn
04:29 something specifically for do something and that's it.
04:32 But no, Python is more than a
04:35 tool that you can use into really
04:39 multiple environments and industries and solutions.
04:42 So yeah, that was the next step.
04:45 So Python Colombia appears in the equation.
04:48 Yeah, very interesting how
04:50 you discover Python Colombia.
04:52 Is it like your professor told you about
04:54 it or you just Google and found out?
05:00 I was googling and I found the web page and they
05:06 were trying to put like, hey, this is the GitHub repository
05:09 and this is the Slack and that is where we are.
05:12 It wasn't like that moment.
05:14 They didn't have Telegram or the other
05:16 or Discord as they have right now.
05:18 It wasn't that big.
05:19 But I realized that a couple
05:22 of friends were in that Slack.
05:26 I could get the invitation from them.
05:28 So I started asking, hey, you are there.
05:30 And one of them told me, I
05:32 don't know what you are talking about.
05:34 And the other one was like,
05:35 yeah, I know, I really know.
05:37 I understand the two phases, right?
05:39 Many people in the communities are just join and
05:43 they are there, but they are not part, but
05:45 there are others that are really really involved.
05:48 So it could be neither of those, but
05:52 they gave me the opportunity to join because
05:55 it's by invitation in that Slack.
05:57 So he gave me the invitation and at that moment,
06:01 Is that by invitation to join
06:03 the event or is it by invitation to join the
06:10 The Slack. I think they still have that.
06:12 And now I'm part of the people that approve
06:14 the invitations because the invitation is really funny.
06:20 They provide your name or your email and they say
06:22 like, hey, this is a friend or this is someone
06:25 from this meetup or from someone from this university.
06:28 And we understand that the people that is joining
06:31 us are not bots and are not people that
06:34 just want to post in, like a recruiter.
06:37 That is not bad to have the recruiters
06:38 in our environment, but we have rules to
06:41 not getting spammed in our own Slack.
06:45 So they have that filter.
06:50 But now folks know who to talk to now.
06:52 So that will be talk to you
06:55 definitely our viewer now have the advantage.
06:59 They want to join PyCon Colombia,
07:01 They will have to talk to you.
07:03 Yup.
07:04 I think personally hearing what you said,
07:07 it sounds like you learned by yourself.
07:11 I mean, you learned about Python because
07:13 of your own self motivation, even though
07:16 you have lots of people to help.
07:18 But it's inspiring to hear that
07:21 you took the steps yourself.
07:23 You figure out who to talk to, you ask questions.
07:26 So I think that's just how
07:29 the journey should be, right?
07:31 So it's very inspiring for me.
07:35 Thank you, Mariatta.
07:37 Thank you so much.
07:38 I just remember something else, too, that
07:41 when I was finishing the bachelor of
07:43 the engineering, a really marvelous professor appears.
07:49 He was a new hire in the university,
07:52 and he was really into Ros, the robotics
07:55 operating system that you can use using Python.
07:59 And I was like, I want to do.
08:01 It was a crazy idea that took me, like,
08:03 one year and a half to build that.
08:06 I think how I got into that journey, I don't know,
08:11 but I made it, and I'm really happy for that.
08:14 I learned a lot of many stuff, like industrial designer,
08:21 how to build my own robots, how to program them.
08:25 It was a massive project, and all by myself
08:30 and my professor, and he pushed me more.
08:34 I was afraid in that moment about the english barrier.
08:38 I was having that worry in my life.
08:41 I didn't have the confidence.
08:43 I could read in that moment any papers, or
08:46 I could do a tutorial or follow a video,
08:48 but I wasn't having the confidence to talk or
08:51 to give a talk or something like that.
08:53 And he was like, go ahead, I just send your
08:58 talk to this conference, and now you have to go.
09:01 And he was like, go ahead, you can do it.
09:04 And I think he is like, a
09:06 really big part of this journey.
09:08 So I want to.
09:09 Thanks to Olmer, my professor, Olmer. Yeah.
09:13 And that is what I understand.
09:17 After, when we were working with PyLadies here in Colombia, we
09:21 have maybe something different in the culture, like, we don't feel, as
09:28 a woman, safe to go to a place at night.
09:33 It could be just like, for a group of study or
09:36 for a meet up, like between six and nine PM
09:39 It's not something that is easily for us
09:41 to do for many reasons, like the insecurity,
09:46 the transportation, you can find any excuse.
09:50 But we realized when we started in Bogota and in
09:54 Medellin and in Cali, that if we made the meetup
09:58 completely open for anyone that wants to join us, like
10:02 the girls that were in university were bringing them, the
10:06 father, the grandparent, could be their brother, anyone that can
10:11 be with her joining the meetup and helping her to
10:17 feel safe and then just to close the day and
10:20 keep only the knowledge and enjoy the moment without thinking
10:23 that something bad is going to happen after.
10:26 So that was one of the reasons. We have spaces
10:31 where we are only women in the space.
10:34 But usually we do those in Saturdays
10:37 and we involve also the children for
10:39 those girls that are already mommies.
10:43 But during the weekday and at night,
10:47 we usually make it open for everyone
10:49 and we are receiving really nice people.
10:53 And that bringing in my mind, my professor,
10:57 he was shooting at me behind like, hey
11:00 Karo, you can do it and go.
11:02 And we can go and ask the university for the expenses
11:05 or maybe we can do like a raffle and find
11:07 money for your sponsorship and you can travel.
11:11 And that was something that changed my mind.
11:15 That was like a really big switch.
11:18 Yeah.
11:20 I really like your story because I think it
11:24 inspired not just women, but for allies that actually
11:27 having a good mentor is very useful, useful resources.
11:32 So if any alllies they want to mentor again
11:38 resonate about what you said about PyLadies meetup that
11:43 it doesn't need to be a women-only environment,
11:46 but it's like maybe women-driven environment.
11:49 If their allies want to be
11:51 there to be supportive role.
11:52 Like for example, if the participant bring another
11:55 male family member to support them so they
11:57 feel safe, then I think that is a
12:00 very caring move that I really appreciate that.
12:04 And also I wonder because you said that,
12:09 oh, your professor kind of encouraged you to
12:11 do all you because I know you are
12:14 helping to organize PyCon Colombia and also PyLadies.
12:19 How do you start doing that?
12:20 Did you start PyLadies or how do you start becoming
12:24 someone who kind of leading all these events and stuff?
12:31 That was really interesting.
12:33 After I joined the community and I was still in
12:37 the university, we were having IEEE group in the university.
12:44 So I was leading that group.
12:45 So I learned a lot thanks to the university like
12:48 to organize events and how to get the sponsorship and
12:52 how to execute and invoices and all the work that
12:54 you need to do behind to make an event happen.
12:59 So when I hear and that was in the Slack that
13:04 hey, we are starting PyLadies Medellin and we know that
13:07 there is PyLadies Bogota, but we are not in Bogota.
13:09 That was a couple of girls that were in
13:12 Medellin, it was another Carolina and also Stephanie imagine.
13:19 And I was like, hey, I would like
13:20 to resume whatever that is here in Bogota.
13:23 So I raised my hand and they
13:25 were okay, let's do it together.
13:27 And so we send the application to get
13:31 again the access to the email and we
13:35 start pinging different people to start getting back
13:39 the accounts because that happens sometimes.
13:42 Okay, who has access to this Twitter or
13:44 who has the access to this account and
13:48 all the drives and all the files.
13:50 So we start looking for that.
13:52 And by the time different people start, okay, I
13:56 have access to this, I can give you access.
13:57 And we start organizing the house.
13:59 And that was around 2018.
14:02 So Medellin and Bogota start at the same time.
14:05 And in that moment, Medellin was in that big moment.
14:12 That is like a label that we have here in Colombia.
14:15 That is the Silicon Valley
14:16 of Latin America, that is Medellin.
14:20 It's too big and many things are happening and all
14:22 the government are doing those efforts for getting more startups
14:28 and that environment is safe for the nomads and for
14:31 all the developers that want to come here.
14:33 So Medellin started growing faster than Bogota, but Medellin
14:40 got really those connections and with the sponsors, so
14:44 those sponsors from Medellin start helping Bogota.
14:47 So that was like a chain that was really nice.
14:51 And those companies that were starting in Medellin, they start
14:55 at some point reaching out the people and the ecosystem
15:00 in Bogota is kind of like the double of Medellin
15:04 and move really big amount of money too.
15:08 So it was like another
15:09 different market for the companies.
15:11 So when they start arriving, like in 2019,
15:15 more companies start opening the offices in Bogota.
15:18 So we start using the auditoriums and those rooms
15:23 that they were allocating because they had in mind
15:28 that it was like a really good movement for
15:31 communities in Bogota as well than Medellin.
15:33 So when they opened the offices, they were taking into
15:37 account that, okay, we have to at least have a
15:39 space for 30 people, 40 people, and they start saving
15:44 those spaces for us and everything start growing.
15:47 And now Medellin and Bogota, we are about the same
15:51 amount of members and Cali is rising too.
15:55 Cali started one year ago and now we are
15:58 looking to encourage more girls across the different cities
16:04 in our country to start other chapters.
16:09 Yeah, that's great.
16:11 But personally what keep you going because I mean,
16:16 back in the time you could have say, okay,
16:19 I wish someone do that, but why you put
16:22 your hands up, say I would do it.
16:25 I think because I learned, I don't know when, but
16:30 I learned that it's really nice how the
16:33 life works to paying forward what you receive.
16:36 I receive a lot of love and
16:39 work and help from different people.
16:42 Could be professors, could be someone from the university
16:44 or could be just my family and friends.
16:47 So I was thinking that I really
16:50 got many privilege to be an engineer.
16:54 I am the first engineer in my family, for example,
16:58 I feel that I would like to make that other
17:01 girls have those privileges, have those opportunities that at the
17:07 end are not that privileged, are not that exclusive.
17:12 They are there.
17:14 The opportunities are there.
17:15 But we are afraid to take those challenges that at
17:19 the very beginning could be really scary, but after that,
17:23 you will see that you are not alone.
17:26 I want to give that to them.
17:31 And that is kind of my voice all the time that
17:34 I have in a meeting or a meetup or anything.
17:37 It's like, hey, you can do it.
17:38 Nothing bad is going to happen,
17:40 so let's do it together.
17:41 If you are afraid at the beginning,
17:43 we can be here for you.
17:44 And that is what we are trying to do with PyLadies
17:47 and now we are like more than ten leaders.
17:52 And I am thinking that I would
17:55 like to start taking some steps back.
18:02 I'm just like, start
18:03 Okay, let's document this.
18:05 And now you are the leadership for this,
18:07 and you are now the lead for this.
18:09 And we start moving forward, giving them more power
18:13 to feel that they are completely capable to do
18:16 it, but to feel that they don't need me
18:19 to be there all the time to accomplish the
18:21 same things because they can't do it without me.
18:25 And I don't know how many years I'm going to last,
18:28 how much energy I'm going to have the following years.
18:31 So, yeah, we need to transfer that knowledge, too.
18:35 That is pretty much like my motto, to transfer
18:39 all the things that I receive to others.
18:44 I feel, again, really so inspiring to hear this
18:47 story because you were initially yourself was supported and
18:54 helped by your professor, and then now you yourself
18:57 are able to even support even more women.
19:00 And I think in the future, the women
19:04 you support, they will further support more women.
19:06 So it's just how to pay it forward.
19:09 I really think it's really inspiring.
19:12 And it works.
19:17 Yeah, it definitely works. Really.
19:19 The fact that we generate others just like giving
19:23 the right words or just like saying hello or
19:26 accepting or replying an email and forward and adding
19:31 someone else that maybe I cannot help you, but
19:32 this person maybe will help you.
19:35 Those are the really minor actions that could change
19:38 the lives of any person that reach out.
19:45 Yeah, I found it
19:47 I resonate a lot about it because I also
19:49 get involved in a lot of community work.
19:51 And I also feel that sometimes I
19:53 got like, oh, it's a bit much.
19:55 And I miss doing technical stuff.
19:57 So I wonder how, because now my
20:00 role is totally not involving coding.
20:04 I'm like, mainly community work, but I do
20:07 want to keep up, still want to do
20:10 technical stuff maybe in the future.
20:12 So how could you think that?
20:16 For example, for example, you're also now
20:18 in a leadership role in your work.
20:20 So how could you keep up with all
20:22 this technical stuff that if you want to
20:25 keep on doing, how would you manage?
20:32 When we are in a leadership
20:34 position, we have more responsibility.
20:39 That is the truth.
20:41 And if I want my team and our product to be the
20:46 best, we need to be using the coding applications or stack or
20:51 find words or whatever that we want to call it.
20:54 So we need to be up to date on
20:57 what is happening and what the people is using
21:01 and what the surveys are saying and what the
21:06 organizations like the Python Software Foundation is saying.
21:09 So we need to be there.
21:11 And I think I really have a
21:14 sure road to get that information.
21:16 That is the community.
21:17 So in the community there are always conversations like
21:21 someone could post, do you know about this framework?
21:25 Do you know about this?
21:26 I found this repository in GitHub and is doing
21:30 really interesting things and they have Notebooks or they
21:32 have this, or they could be a really bold
21:36 behavior that could start somewhere that we don't know
21:40 exactly when, but is there.
21:42 So that is kind of my way to keep
21:44 the pace because everything is changing so fast too.
21:47 So I try to keep the pace on Discord or
21:52 in the chats, the different chats that the people
21:54 are raising and even not always interacting, sometimes I only
22:00 give a reaction and good, thank you for sharing.
22:04 And that's it.
22:05 But sometimes it's something that could be
22:07 more involving my interest right now.
22:11 So I could start discussion and making questions.
22:14 So even if I don't use the stack or the new
22:22 framework or application, I try to see the very first getting
22:28 the stack to guys or a video or something that can
22:32 explain to me how that works and maybe transfer that interest
22:36 to my team or to my developers, or if it's something
22:39 that I believe that is really big change.
22:43 I take the time and I usually allocate a couple
22:46 of hours in a week to study something new.
22:49 So I use those couple of hours like, okay, I'm
22:52 going to sit and read here what is happening?
22:55 And even if I try and everything is a mess, I try it.
22:58 And maybe it's not that easy, or maybe I'm not
23:00 reading well, but that keeps me in a technical perspective,
23:06 even if I'm not using Python daily or coding daily.
23:12 I think that's a really good point.
23:14 You showed that, actually, I know that some engineer
23:18 will be like, oh, my manager doesn't know this.
23:21 I think you show a really good point of like, even
23:24 if you're in a leadership position, you still have to keep
23:27 up to date, you still have to know what's going on,
23:29 even if you're not hands on doing it.
23:32 Of course we appreciate people who can do it hands on,
23:34 but I think we also, on the other hand, appreciate people
23:38 who kind of have a lot of responsibility but still kind
23:41 of keep understanding the technology and up to date and be
23:45 helpful to the rest of the team.
23:48 Yeah.
23:48 And I think also that we are not our
23:52 work, we are human beings that needs time to
23:56 understand a topic, provide a solution, reflect about any
24:01 possible throws or solutions, and then execute.
24:04 We are not executing all the 8 hours on
24:06 a day, and that is like a false reality.
24:11 That is not true.
24:12 So we need time to process information.
24:15 And right now that we have tools, I know we have
24:19 AI, we have chats, we have many things that could help
24:21 us to process information quickly, but we need to make sure
24:25 that we are processing that information in our mind, like I
24:29 really understand it, or I'm just copy and paste.
24:33 I think that is something that we are
24:36 missing because we want, and the company and
24:38 the product and the market want quicker results.
24:42 And that is something that is
24:44 pushing really hard on us.
24:46 And it could be anyone in our community or in other
24:49 communities, like development communities is really hard that we need to
24:53 make a whole dashboard in one day, or we need to
24:56 implement this dashboard in one day, or we need to do,
24:59 I don't know how many reports in one day.
25:01 And it's okay, take it easy.
25:05 Sometimes we can make it in one day,
25:07 but after a couple of days of research
25:10 or investigation, and the result will be better.
25:13 So that is like a call for
25:16 everyone that could hear this podcast.
25:19 Take the time to think and plan your
25:22 solutions and investigate and research, of course.
25:26 So regarding that, you make a very good
25:31 point for people who are already working.
25:34 Let's say they're working in a technical team, of
25:36 course, for something that's new for them, they can
25:38 take time to research, like you said.
25:40 But what if someone want to
25:42 start, someone want to learn coding?
25:44 That they may not be working as an engineer
25:47 or working in a technical team at the moment,
25:49 but they may want to do a career change.
25:51 Or maybe they are like we were, we were studying
25:56 something and then we, oh, we want to start coding.
25:58 And so how would you suggest, do people still
26:02 have to spend a lot of time on research,
26:04 or people who, let's say, go to a PyLadies
26:07 and join a workshop, something like that.
26:08 So what would you recommend?
26:12 For each person, sorry, it will be a different way.
26:14 So I would like to recommend to find the way
26:19 that you like to learn and put all the variables.
26:22 Okay, I want to do this in a limit of two months.
26:25 I want to change my career and I only have one quarter to
26:28 do it, or I have six months at least to do it.
26:31 So what is my time frame?
26:33 So if I want to do it in a
26:35 more intense way or if I have the time.
26:38 So I'm going to go to a meetup
26:40 and just see if I feel the vibe.
26:43 So we have in the community made
26:46 plenty of things that you can do.
26:48 So you can join us in the future of meetup, or you
26:50 can follow us and review the videos that we already post.
26:53 We have a good amount of.
26:57 Really dummy, Welcome to Python videos that you
27:00 can just rewatch and see if you think.
27:05 And we have workshops, of course.
27:07 So sometimes we do really starting beginners
27:15 workshop for different industries or fields.
27:20 So what else?
27:21 I also can recommend that if you want to start
27:24 and you are completely sure that you want to start
27:26 with Python, that usually is the easy way to start.
27:30 Like, the learning curve for coding with Python is
27:35 really nice, it's friendly, and there are a lot
27:38 of people open to explain to you, or if you
27:43 don't want to speak with someone.
27:45 You can also find more resources.
27:49 There are millions of resources online,
27:51 even you don't need to pay.
27:53 Many of them are completely free.
27:55 So you can switch between and you
27:58 can choose, but don't keep switching forever.
28:01 That is another advice.
28:03 So you can choose one if you don't
28:05 like it, okay, switch to another one.
28:07 But something else is happening.
28:10 Try to find the reason, the root of
28:11 the cause that you don't understand a topic.
28:14 And maybe the next step is
28:16 not switching to another resource.
28:17 Maybe looking for a mentor.
28:19 And in the communities we have really big amount of
28:22 people that is open and we have labels and roles
28:26 in this core, that is people, that is mentor.
28:28 And you can filter by mentor and you can just ping them
28:31 and hey, I'm trying to do this and I'm not able to.
28:35 And I know people that has slots
28:38 of times, they have a calendar available,
28:41 could be just 15 minutes, 30 minutes.
28:43 I have my own, for example, where I can help people.
28:48 Could be any topic, IoT, art, or
28:52 finding a learning curve, a learning path. Sorry.
28:54 So could be any question that you may have.
28:58 I know that will be a person
29:00 that will be open to answer.
29:02 So first of all, join the community.
29:07 We are really nice people.
29:08 We are going to be open to help you anytime.
29:11 And then you can follow your own path.
29:13 You will be defining your own path.
29:15 So you will follow your instance, and you
29:17 will see that it's really nice, it's satisfactory.
29:22 When you found that you were trying
29:25 to understand this, and finally you understand
29:27 this, but plenty amount of things.
29:35 Go ahead. Yeah.
29:36 I mentioned a workshop because Karo helped
29:38 us to organize some Humble Data workshop, so,
29:42 yeah, she's very experienced in doing that.
29:45 Yeah.
29:47 I just want to say, feel really related
29:49 to that, because it is also through the
29:52 Python community that I learned a lot.
29:54 Like, I learned about.
29:55 I even learned about how to
29:56 contribute to open source and speaking.
29:59 I got mentors as well, and I feel that's the difference
30:03 of the Python community, the fact that there is a community
30:08 that is willing and wanting to help you, and all you
30:12 need to do is just learn and then pay it forward. Right.
30:19 It's awesome to hear that.
30:22 Yeah.
30:23 I could say that there are no
30:24 more welcoming community than the Python community.
30:29 It's incredible.
30:32 Anywhere is really like, you
30:34 are in the Python community. Nice.
30:35 Where you know these people
30:36 and everyone knows each other.
30:40 So it's wonderful when you go in that circle.
30:46 It's incredible.
30:47 It's really nice and inspiring.
30:50 Yeah.
30:50 I think that joining the community is a very
30:53 good way, because if you do it yourself, it's
30:56 very high chance you would give up.
30:58 But if you do it with the community,
31:00 you kind of feel like you're not alone.
31:03 You won't procrastinate so much, and
31:06 you're more motivated to do something.
31:09 So that's why when I was learning Rust,
31:11 I also start to maybe film myself.
31:14 So I kind of want to get more support from my viewers.
31:21 So that feel better than doing it yourself.
31:26 But how could someone, let's say, especially women, who maybe
31:31 feel that, oh, tech is very not something they would
31:36 aspire to do when they were a girl?
31:38 Because in my culture, when you grow up, if
31:40 you're a girl, then you probably won't get encouraged
31:43 to do engineering or science or coding.
31:50 So I think especially for women and
31:53 community, supportive network is very important.
31:55 But how can they find out?
31:58 Because you were lucky to have a professor that's
32:01 very supportive, and then you found PyCon Colombia, and
32:03 find a friend who get you into the Slack.
32:06 But how?
32:07 Except that they have to find
32:08 you to get into the Slack.
32:11 How can someone find a way?
32:19 I think, and we believe a lot here in
32:22 Colombia, that the voice to voice is, like,
32:25 the best way to make something happen.
32:28 So we try to tell that to anyone that join us.
32:32 Even if you are just hearing that, even your own daughter
32:38 or your niece or someone that you hear that would like
32:42 to start coding, just send them the web page.
32:46 We have a web page.
32:47 So PyLadies Co. pyladies dot co
32:50 So you can just find the chapter that is closer to you
32:55 or the meetup that you would like to see or to watch.
32:59 Because we are always streaming our events.
33:03 After the pandemic, our mind changed and we realized
33:07 that many of our people just left the country
33:10 and we want to keep there for them.
33:13 So that is why we keep streaming all the events.
33:16 And for new people that is coming after or
33:18 for people that is from other places of the
33:22 world, they can be part of us.
33:25 And the way that they can look for us,
33:28 we are pretty much in all the social medias.
33:31 I think we are in Instagram, TikTok, like everywhere.
33:34 If they search by Python or we are trying
33:39 to do our homework well, that is putting all
33:42 the hashtags and tagging all the different communities.
33:45 We are trying to be there for all of them.
33:49 I hope if they don't find us in the
33:51 very first search, someone can let us know that
33:54 we exist and we are here for them.
33:56 And they only need to click on a follow or they
34:01 can only click and join us in our Discord server where
34:06 we are talking about different topics all the time.
34:11 We are here for them.
34:13 I hope they can find us easily.
34:18 We have been asking us that, Cheuk, really
34:21 long time ago how we can reach them.
34:25 We try to reach out also
34:29 school professors for different parents.
34:31 Like, my mom helped me a lot when I was
34:33 a kid also, she was like, you can explore and
34:38 you can play with anything that you want.
34:39 And I really appreciate that she did that
34:41 because I was really into robotics since my
34:46 twelve years old, something like that.
34:48 She was like, okay, you want a robot?
34:49 Okay, let's go and find a robot.
34:51 I didn't want a Barbie. After I want a
34:53 Barbie, but then it was like a robot.
34:55 And she was like, okay, let's go with the robot.
34:58 And then was like a party of robots and Barbies.
35:01 Who knows?
35:05 That is really funny.
35:06 And she was like, okay, let's do it.
35:09 When we receive parents in our meetups, we try to encourage
35:12 them to do the same because the girls, the women are
35:17 like, we are feeling lost in the process of finding
35:21 I want to feel that I have something that identify myself
35:25 and I'm good at that and I'm getting that inspiration to
35:29 wake up and get up from the bed and say, okay,
35:32 this is what I want to do today.
35:34 And we are struggling and that
35:36 is like from decades ago.
35:38 We are struggling a lot to find that.
35:40 And since the industry is moving that fast?
35:44 I don't know how fast we are moving as generations
35:46 and as parents, teaching them that they have a sea
35:50 of possibilities and they can do whatever that they want.
35:53 I think the academy, the industry, the
35:57 schools, we need to find connecting us.
36:01 I don't know.
36:03 You can be at the school, you can be at the
36:04 university, but you can be also part of the community.
36:07 So PyLadies is not something that
36:09 you need to be exclusive.
36:11 And that's something that you
36:12 could be just there liking,
36:15 following us, sharing, assisting to the meetups,
36:18 attending to the meetups, and that's it.
36:20 That is what we need from you.
36:22 And that is what is changing the scene.
36:26 But I don't know.
36:29 That is an open question, Cheuk
36:31 I think.
36:34 I think go back to the point that we need allies.
36:36 I think we need people who tell whoever they know that,
36:41 oh, they may want to learn this, or they are like,
36:45 you may have a friend who come to you and say
36:47 that, oh, I might be struggling with what I'm doing.
36:49 I don't like what I'm doing right now.
36:51 I want to try something new.
36:52 And you think that they will be great coding then
36:55 just like, hey, come to this PyLady and do.
36:59 I do sometimes have people who say,
37:02 oh, they want to invite, maybe introduce
37:05 their spouse to coding or coworker.
37:10 I know that, for example, Karo, you
37:13 bring some of your coworker into help
37:15 organizing things in the community as well
37:21 So it's good to have a presence
37:23 online so people can easily find you.
37:25 But at the same time, I think there's
37:28 so many things out there in the Internet
37:30 still, like reference and word of mouth is
37:32 maybe the traditional way to bring people in.
37:36 There is a challenge, but if someone hear
37:38 us and knows another way to reach out
37:41 to people, please just let us know.
37:44 We need ideas.
37:46 We are open to execute new ideas and we
37:49 are here to make everything you need aside to
37:52 make that happen, to make that happen.
37:54 So we are really in a willing way
37:59 or status or mood to help everyone.
38:02 And I really hope, I wish at some point,
38:07 we are always having a chart of increasing.
38:11 After each meetup, we have between 50 or 60
38:15 new people followers, and we have always those peaks.
38:18 But I would like to see one day, one huge peak
38:21 to understand what else we can do, what we did.
38:26 And even if we are following all these structures
38:29 that Instagram gives you, or TikTok gives you, like
38:32 post one story one day and two stories per
38:36 day or two posts per day.
38:37 And even if you follow all of
38:39 those, we are not yet influencers.
38:45 We are still not in the eyes of the algorithm.
38:49 So we are still not viral.
38:52 And I wish we could be viral like many
38:55 people following us and getting our content, that we
38:59 really take the time, the time to build, to
39:02 prepare and to post the content.
39:05 For example, you both are doing with these podcasts.
39:08 That is a really big effort that
39:10 many people do in the community.
39:12 And I know that we are reaching our people, at our audience,
39:17 but I wish we can reach out more people, each time.
39:20 But I don't know, maybe the algorithm is thinking
39:26 different, and we are not selling something here.
39:28 So it's weird.
39:32 It's a challenge.
39:33 Yeah, that's really a challenge.
39:37 I think we are almost at the end.
39:39 So do you have one last thing or anything you want to
39:42 tell the viewers or just spread the word to the world?
39:44 Anything, you have to say it then now is the chance.
39:50 I think.
39:50 I would like to add that you don't need to be
39:53 coding all days to be part of the Python community.
39:58 You can use Python once in a
40:02 semester or once in a month.
40:05 But you know Python and you
40:06 understand Python and you are like.
40:09 Or you want to understand Python and
40:10 you want to use it more.
40:12 It could be any reason related to Python,
40:15 or maybe related to another language, programming language,
40:20 or another things that you saw that maybe
40:23 someone else did with Python.
40:25 That was easy.
40:26 So you are more than welcome.
40:28 So I want to open the invitation and
40:31 to join really your local community for Python.
40:35 I could say, without any afraid to be wrong.
40:40 I could say that mostly all the countries have
40:43 at least one charter of PyLadies or Python, or
40:47 it could be in your own continent.
40:49 So even if you don't have it in your local town,
40:53 you can open it and you will find people that will
40:55 be interesting with you to chat once in a month, one
40:58 in a week, and you will receive the support for all
41:01 the other community members and all the other leaders, and also
41:05 the Python Software Foundation to help your chapter.
41:09 And that could change your mind, your mindset,
41:13 your ideas, and that could change your.
41:16 So I want to invite everyone to be part of the
41:19 community and to join us, even if you don't want,
41:24 also an extra for the invitation,
41:27 If you don't want to organize event, because I know
41:30 that that takes time, or if you don't want to
41:33 find a sponsorship or do the normal stuff that the
41:37 people think that are behind of organizing a community, you
41:41 can also create content, you can create an article, you
41:44 can share with us what you did for the last
41:47 production release that you accomplished, or what was a problem
41:50 that you face between an integration between different frameworks that
41:55 you are using in your work, at work or whatever,
41:58 that you believe that
41:59 okay, this took me time to
42:02 investigate to find a solution.
42:04 I'm going to create an article and I'm going to
42:06 create this post, or I'm going to do this talk
42:09 and I'm going to reach out my local community and
42:11 I'm going to share that knowledge because that is going
42:13 to save the time for others.
42:15 And that is a really lovely sensation and feeling that
42:20 you can say, okay, I did good, and that's it.
42:24 And that will be your piece of help.
42:27 And it will be really welcomed in the community, too.
42:30 So this is an invitation for you to be part.
42:35 That's awesome.
42:36 And I thought I share that.
42:39 That's a really great idea and that's really
42:42 a great way to help the community.
42:45 I think the content from the
42:47 community all comes from you.
42:50 You can start becoming the content of
42:53 Python, learning Python or using community.
42:56 And we have lots of conferences all over the world that's
43:01 looking for talks about Python, and you can be the one
43:05 giving the talk and you can totally do it.
43:07 So I will pitch out.
43:09 PyCon US 2024 is right now accepting talks.
43:14 And if you have talk ideas,
43:17 listen to Karo submit a talk.
43:20 And I know there are lots of other conferences
43:23 going on as well, so not PyCon US.
43:26 There are lots of Python
43:27 conferences, lots of Python everywhere.
43:30 Euro Python and PyCon APAC. Really,
43:35 there's a lot of them everywhere.
43:36 So give a talk.
43:39 Yeah.
43:40 Thank you so much.
43:42 Yeah.
43:42 Thank you so much, Karo.
43:44 It's so nice chatting with you and so
43:46 nice to share so much of your experience.
43:49 Even I know you for a while.
43:51 It's always refreshing to know more about how you
43:54 manage and how you do this and that. It's great.
43:57 So thank you so much.
43:59 Bye.

We interviewed Karolina Ladino to hear about how she started learning Python, and becoming involved with the Python community in Colombia.

Karolina has a background in robotics engineer and a master’s degree in data analytics. She has been working in the hardware industry and animatronics.

In this episode, Karolina shared some of the struggles and difficulties faced by women in Colombia, and how she helped shaped the community, making it safer and more welcoming so that more women could have the opportunities in the Python and tech communities.

We learned about Karolina’s mentor, Professor Olmer, who not only supported and encouraged her studies but also served as an inspiration for her to pay it forward by extending her support to other women.

To those who are still learning Python or want to switch their career, Karo shared many useful advices, so be sure to listen to the episode to learn from her!

Topic discussed

  • Introductions
  • Learning MicroPython in University
  • Her background in Robotics Engineering
  • Career as project manager and product manager
  • Python Colombia
  • Learning Python from the community and from online resources
  • Becoming involved with Python Colombia and PyLadies Colombia
  • The challenges faced by women in Colombia, and breaking that barrier
  • Mentorship and allies
  • Paying it forward
  • Medellin: the Silicon Valley of Latin America
  • Growth of tech community in Colombia
  • Advices and invitation to join your local Python community

Get to know Karolina Ladino

Karolina Ladino

Karolina Ladino

Karo is a Product Manager, robotics engineer, MSc Data Analytics, teacher, maker, and jeweler. She co-leads PyLadies Bogotá and PyLadies Colombia initiative. She is part of Python Colombia and is a co-organizer of the PyConCo conference. She has more than 9 years of experience creating hardware for various disciplines. She loves working towards creating opportunities and spaces for personal and professional growth of people. In her free time, she draws and works on her jewelry project.

Stay in touch and support the Python Community

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