Happy 20th Birthday, Django!

Me and Simon Willison at DjangoCon US 2024 (photo credit: Django Fellow Natalia Bidart)

In the early 2000s, I moved to Lawrence, Kansas. I visited the Lawrence Public Library in downtown Lawrence often and unfortunately had no idea that a few blocks away, Django was being created at the Lawrence Journal World.

I was working in a job that didn’t suit me and decided to go on an adventure to England in 2009 to join a master’s degree program at Lancaster University Management School. It was only after interning in the IT Change Management Department at Co-operative Financial Services/Britannia Building Society that I learned about Django.

I eventually made it back to the states and properly joined the Django community. It was life-changing, to say the least.

Thank you to Rob Curley, Simon Willison, Adrian Holovaty, and Jacob Kaplan-Moss (and the many who have come after) for not just creating, but also making Django free and open-source. I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with Rob and Simon at conferences. Given their unique curiosity and ingenuity, I can only imagine the explosion of creativity that occurred. For a detailed look back, check out Simon’s updated Django Origins talk posted as a personal celebration of Django’s 20th birthday.

Thank you to everyone who has helped shape this special community. Craig Bruce, Frank Wiles, Jeff Triplett, Ken Whitesell, Kojo Idrissa, Ola Sendecka, Ola Sitarska, and Stacey Haysler immediately come to mind for me personally, but there are far too many to mention. The Django Software Foundation Individual Members List is a good place to start.

As I said in my DjangoCon US 2023 Recap, this community is changing the world for the better through shared humanity and technology. And, it’s not a coincidence that it started in wonderful Lawrence, Kansas.

Happy Birthday, Django! Here’s to many more years to come.