How to become a Python release manager
I share the journey from building Nokia apps back in 2005, maintaining Pillow, working as a triager, a PEP editor, and a CPython core developer, all the way to taking charge of the Python 3.14 and 3.15 releases.
This session covers the real-world processes of release automation, a deprecation experience that broke torchvision, change management where documentation alone wasn't enough, and ending support for Python 2 and older versions.
It delivers practical insights and encouragement to attendees who want to contribute to open source and gain a deeper understanding of how Python is made. Finally, we'll hear about some of the exciting new things in the latest version of our favourite programming language.
Hugo van Kemenade is a Python core developer and the release manager for Python 3.14 and 3.15. He maintains open-source projects such as Pillow, is a PSF Fellow and PEP editor, and organiser of NaNoGenMo, Helsinki Python and PyData Helsinki. As a Sovereign Tech Fellow, he's lucky to work on maintaining critical digital infrastructure full-time. Hugo lives in Helsinki and sometimes cycles on the frozen sea.