This week we welcome Cheukting Ho (@cheukting_ho) as our PyDev of the Week. Cheuk is an organizer for EuroPython and various Python sprints. You can find our more about her accomplishments on her website or see what open source projects she is a part of over on Github.
Let's take some time to get to know her better!
Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc):
I am Cheuk, pronoun she/ her. I came from a Physics research background but had changed my career to become a data scientist when I moved from Hong Kong to London. Now, I had made a change again and work as a developer advocate. This is the result of my love to be involved in the tech community. My newest hobby is to stream coding tutorials and building websites with JAMstack.
Why did you start using Python?
I started when I got my first data science job in London. I was using R at the time but my team is using Python. I quickly pick that up and switch from R to Python. I fell in love with it and never look back ever since.
What other programming languages do you know and which is your favorite?
I recently touched a bit about Ruby and JavaScript due to my hobby (website building), however, I still think Python is the best. It is so beginner-friendly but remains lots of flexibility for more advance users to explore.
What projects are you working on now?
Too many things (LOL). For open-source project, I am maintaining the Python library of TerminusDB - a graph database that stores data like git, I am so glad that I can do open-source in my job and the team is lovely. For the community, I am organizing Pyjamas - a 24hour global Python online conference, the organising team consist of people around the world. I also just started a weekly live stream chatting about Python every Wednesday at 1pm UK time. I may also turn them into a podcast so Pythonistas can have some entertainment during this difficult time. Those are some of the things that I am working on.
Which Python libraries are your favorite (core or 3rd party)?
Pandas and Dateutil, they are so powerful that I used them in every job, from data science projects in a travel agency to financial crime team in a global bank. Even my job now I still use Pandas and Dateutil with TerminusDB to build knowledge graphs.
How did you get involved in organizing tech meetups / conferences?
When I started my data science career, I felt that there are so much to learn and I discovered that there are lots of meetup groups that I can join. Some of them have very lovely communities and I just go to meetups almost every day. I started to become friends with Chiin, the founder of the AI Club of Gender Minorities because of that and she invited me to be her co-organiser. I thought, that's great as I can pick the date of my favourite meetup, so I said yes. And since it never stops - meeting more people and having more friends get me more and more involved in the communities as most organisers are super friendly and welcoming. They are happy to see you grow and become a bigger part of the community.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Recently I start mentoring some ladies in the communities. I like the experience, I like bringing out the potentials from these talented people and see them grow. I hope anyone who has some experience in the tech industry will consider take on beginners form the minorities group as their mentee.
Thanks for doing the interview, Cheuk!
