From “Enthusiastic User” to pandas Maintainer

Show notes:

On this episode of Numerically Speaking: The Anaconda Podcast, host Peter Wang welcomes pandas maintainer Jeff Reback, Managing Director at Two Sigma.

Jeff began his career on Wall Street in the 1990’s and used Perl for a long time. He developed an interest in Python in the 2000’s. He was then quickly drawn to pandas and began to spend his hour-long ferry commutes contributing to its open-source code. His contributions over the years have been significant, to say the least.

When it comes to open source, says Peter, “my flame isn’t diminished by lighting your candle.” Cloning a copy of pandas, for example, does not make the original copy any less valuable. In fact, source code actually increases in value as it circulates.

Until recently, only volunteers worked on pandas—but as of 2022, three full-time maintainers are paid to contribute, review code, and triage issues.

Jeff’s advice for anybody interested in contributing to open source? Find a community and just help out.

Click here to check out “Two Sigma Presents Pandas at a Crossroads the Past Present and Future with Jeff Reback” on YouTube.

You can find a human-verified transcript of this episode here.

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