Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Time For a Change
One year ago I started the podcast This Week in Django as a way to stay abreast of Django changes, to fill a need in the community, and to fulfill my own desire to learn more about podcasting. It was tough in the beginning, trying to figure out the sound, formats, and feeds, but it was also a ton of fun. Early on I had the good fortune to meet and become very close friends with Brian Rosner. I quickly asked him to co-host the show with me and it was the best decision I made. Brian was exactly what This Week in Django needed; he possesses a tremendous amount of knowledge, is passionate about Django, extremely interesting, and has a great sense of humor. We continue to grow our listenership base each month, so we must be doing something right.
Over the past year we’ve talked to a number of very interesting guests, had in-depth discussions on many topics (many that I know nothing about), and have had the unique privilege to perform TWiD Live at DjangoCon 2008. It’s been tons of fun and each week we do the show I am reminded how much I truly enjoy doing the podcast and the Django community in general.
Given all of this it is tough for me to say goodbye, but the time has come. My commitments to family, work, and other projects have put me in a place where I don’t feel I’m able to bring my best to the show each week. I’ve given this decision a lot of thought over the past few weeks and trust that it’s the right choice.
Brian Rosner, thankfully, will continue to host This Week in Django. Brian will be joined by the charming and talented Eric Florenzano. Many of you know Eric from his informative screencast tutorial, Django From the Ground Up, that is available on the This Week in Django site. You might also be familiar with Eric’s work with Intermediate Models, Threaded Comments and more. And I know some of you joined me in shedding a tear when Eric wrote such “classic” blog posts as The internet is in immediate danger of collapse and Why use a VARCHAR when you can use TEXT?. :)
I am very pleased that Brian and Eric (with help from Kevin Fricovsky – official Community Evangelist and Water Boy) will be doing the show and I look forward to listening each and every week. As for me I am not completely going away. I will continue to be associated with the This Week in Django site, helping to improve the content there through less time sensitive things like screencasts, blog posts, and increasing the site’s feature set.
It’s been fun and I want to thank everyone for all of the nice words of encouragement, and the occasional criticism (I’m talking to you Mr. Mouth Noises), over the past year. You are what makes the program worth doing. Keep rocking on Django in 2009 and beyond.
Comments - 21 people have already said something. Join the discussion.
Chris said…
Thanks, Michael for all your hard work getting TWID rolling. You will be missed! Best of luck in all that you do going forward!!
Logan said…
Thanks for your work with TWID. I loved (and still do) the show. You'll have to come back and do some guest episodes :)
Welcome to Eric.
Meir said…
I had a feeling it was coming ...
Thank you Michael for TWID, for the work and time invested producing it. Hopefully you'll still pop up in some episodes as a guest or host :-)
Greg said…
Sellout!! I've lost all respect for you now.
Seriously. Sad to see you go and good luck!!
Horst said…
Sad so see you go, but if it helps you it is the right decision :-) Good luck with your other projects :-)
Free said…
Maybe lower your frequence of django this week... To django this month or django thes forthnight!
I can hardly keep up with listening... I don't know where you people find the time to make the pod cast. For that my deepest respect!
Chris Scott said…
Thanks for all the time and effort you've put into it and thanks for leaving it in good hands.
Justin Lilly said…
Hey Michael,
Glad to hear that you're not leaving the community, even if we don't get to hear you every week. Looking forward to seeing the outcome of django-sqlalchemy.
Nuno Mariz said…
Sad to see you go, Michael.
Thanks for the podcast as the awesome contribution for the Django community.
Good luck.
Jason Leveille said…
Very sorry to see you go, Michael. I wish you the very best. Though you don't know me you have impacted my life ... you almost killed me during the recent chipmunk voice show. I almost went off the road laughing!
Gabriel said…
Kudos to you Michael for all the great work getting this excellent source on air!
I've been following TWiD for almost a year and for me it's been _the_ place for learning about the latest and greatest in the django world.
I'm looking forward to follow Brian and Eric following django's continued development!
Patrick Taylor said…
We'll all be a bit emptier without you at the helm of TWID.
Dave Smith said…
Thanks for getting TWiD started. It's made my commute more pleasurable for at least one day a week.
EpOlu said…
Well this blows.
You were the only reason this show was any good.
Brian can't speak a straight sentence to save his life and tieing his tounge in a knot and saying five times "... enables you to have the ability to be able to ..."
Still - the best of luck to you.
Paul said…
Thank you for starting TWiD and doing so much good work. Also, kudos for making what I suspect was a difficult decision. It's easy to end up with more projects than you really have time for. Knowing when to make a change helps you and your projects survive.
In January 2008 I was on your show making the first public announcement of my book in progress. A year later, the book is out, and the show has grown into an institution. May they both prosper!
Grinch said…
Thanks for all the episodes.
I might try listening to the Trier-less podcast, but I'm not holding out much hope to be honest. The episodes recorded without you were all over the map. Left to their own devices the other guys just ramble on without really talking about anything.
pim said…
Thanks Michael for all the hard work.
bayo opadeyi said…
A very BIG (though belated) thank you to you and Brian and Eric and Kevin for all the help you have given me and a lot of people out there learning django. best of luck!
OpUle said…
@EpOlu I even once spotted a "this will allow you to have the ability to be able to..."
We all have our mannerisms, and this is definitely a cute one. I could never podcast since I'd be too embarrassed to hear my own voice...
Antti Kaihola said…
Michael, thanks for your big contributions to the community. Great work with the show and your appearances on the DjangoCon videos. Looking forward to seeing your SQLAlchemy code in action!
Great that Brian&Eric will keep the show going. As a father of two I appreciate getting Django news highlights the quick and easy way. BTW, my son (2½yrs) clearly needs proper drums, too :) Nice video!
John said…
Sad to see you go - many thanks for an excellent podcast. All the best for the future - hopefully hear you as a guest on future TWIDs.