DjangoCon Europe 2026 Athens | Review
28/04/2026
This was my 5th time at DjangoCon Europe in five years and I have really enjoyed every one of them. Different city, different venue, same community. This year the event was held in Athens, Greece.
If you have ever thought about attending one of these events I would highly recommend it. It will change your outlook on using Django for the better.
My quick trip to Athens involved talks, networking, lightning talks, CV reviews, plenty of Greek food and several nights of entertainment in the city.
Here's my review of the week.
Monday 13th April (Travel Day)
I flew out on the Monday morning and even managed to do the school drop off before a quick drive to London Heathrow and a direct flight to Athens. I arrived at 6pm local time and grabbed a short taxi into the city, checked into my Airbnb before popping out for some dinner before the sun went down.
My Airbnb which had a really nice view of the Acropolis. I think Athens must have building height restrictions which means pretty much everyone gets a view of the Acropolis. Not a bad view to start the week.
Tuesday 14th April (A Walk and the Django Social)
Tuesday morning I had a stroll around the city and did a bit of work from the Airbnb.
Then I met up with Andrew Miller for an ice cream at the Django ice cream shop.
We walked up to the Acropolis together. Took in the sights, had a really good chat and a proper catch up and we stood on a rock to take (another) photo of the Acropolis.
That evening we hosted (in the loosest sense) the Django Social pre conference event. We had a last minute change of venue but it actually worked out really well. Around 50 to 60 people came along through the night.
I didn't take any photos myself but a few attendees shared theirs online afterwards. Thanks to those who took them but I haven't got any to share here.
In a city as big as Athens, putting plans into the conference communication channel is the only way people can find each other and well worth doing if you are heading to a future event.
Wednesday 15th April. (The Conference / Day One)
The first day of the conference started with a nice little stroll up to the venue, walking past some sort of military formation parade on the way. I took a few pics but without context of what was really happening.
I arrived as the doors were opening. Had a peek into the main talks room and then settled into what I enjoy most at these events... coffee and catching up with people. It was so nice to see lots of familiar faces and plenty of new ones who hadn't made it to the social event the night before.
The day kicked off with Carlton Gibson opening the conference with the keynote and a run through of the schedule. Then more coffee, a couple of talks and a lot of conversations in the hallway area.
By the time myself and a few others got down to lunch the food was already gone. I took it as a sign and headed back to the Airbnb to grab a bite to eat and finish off the slides for my lightning talk.
Lightning talks are always my favourite part of any conference day. Five minutes to share something you've been working on or something you want to promote. I'll share the offical video link from my talk another time but here a recording of the practice run I did from my apartment which I've uploaded on the Foxley Talent YouTube channel.
This was adapted from my recent blog post: Tech Hiring has got a Fraud Problem!
That evening a small group of us headed out for drinks and dinner. We took some first time attendees back to the same bar from the night before. A great little place with about 500 different beers on offer. Then on for some authentic Greek food. The restaurant turned out to be a two minute walk back to my apartment which was handy after a long day.
Thursday 16th April (Day Two)
Thursday started with the keynote and then a talk from Andrew Northall. I know Andrew from the London Django meetup and this was his first ever conference talk. He did a great job. Worth a watch when the videos go up. He also was a volunteer at the conference and looks like he's really got the conference bug! Hopefully he'll write about this one day...
Straight after that I jumped into Daniele Procida's workshop on the employer perspective when applying for jobs. I shared some experience from my side of the table where I could. Lots of good conversation and was well run, like everything Daniele puts on.
Same as the day before, the lunch queues caught me out. So I popped back to the Airbnb, got changed and went to a gym I had spotted just round the corner from me. A quick workout, a bite to eat on the way back and straight into the afternoon session.
The afternoon agenda for me had a workshop on Django and AI, run by Thibaud Colas and Laura Gates, who I had already had a good chat with at the Social on the topic. It was a really interesting session and a topic that came up a lot through the rest of the week. The day finished with another round of lightning talks.
That evening we had the organised conference party downstairs at the venue. A few drinks, a bit to eat and plenty of conversations. Lots of people were having photos taken by the Conference sponsor banner. someone even brought a cuddly toy of the Django Pony.
One of the groups I was talking to invited me along to dinner afterwards. We ended up at a rooftop bar with full panoramic views of the city. Drinks, dinner and a midnight stroll home a perfect second day.
Friday 17th April (Day Three)
On Friday morning I joined a workshop on improving your CV with help from your Django friends. An hour of sharing experiences, tips and actually looking at some CVs together as a group.
In the afternoon I had put a note out on Slack to say I was open and available for conversations and job seeking tips. I ended up going through LinkedIn profiles and CVs with a number of people. Sharing some of the same advice I have shared on the blog before and a few of the videos I have put up on YouTube...
How to find your first Django Developer Job
How to reverse engineer your junior developer job search
We had the big group photo at lunch. Always a nice memento... see if you can spot me in there.
The closing lightning talks were the usual mix of brilliant and throughout the week people spoke about future events that are happening in the Python world. And to wrap everything up we all gave a huge thank you to the organising team who pulled the whole conference together so well.
I wasn't staying for the sprints over the weekend (but these are well worth the extra few nights if you have the skills to take part) so a small group of us went for cocktails in a couple of bars. Another traditional Greek meal followed by more cocktails into the early hours. A really good way to finish the trip.
Saturday 18th April (Home)
Saturday morning. I packed up, cleaned the Airbnb, took a short taxi to the airport and got home in good time that afternoon.
I kept up with the conference Slack and watched the photos and updates from the sprints come in over the weekend. As always, a fair bit of FOMO from watching all the people who stayed on still having fun.
What's Next
Five DjangoCons Europe in five years. I'll definitely be going again next year wherever it lands and I can't wait to see who I catch up with when I'm there.
The next stops on the calendar for me are...
PyCon US in Long Beach, California in May
DjangoCon US back in Chicago this August
I'll write up both of those after the trips. If you are heading to either, drop me a message beforehand and let's grab a coffee or a cocktail.
How I Can Help You
If you are a Django Developer I caught up with in Athens, or one of the people I sat down with on a CV review, thanks for the chat. Please stay in touch and let me know how your search goes.
If you are a company looking to hire Django Developers, this is all I do. Over 18 years in the Python world and a network built one conference at a time. Whether it's a single hire or building out an entire team, I'd love to help. Get in touch for a chat.
Thanks for reading.
Jon
