Joining the PyNetherlands Foundation as treasurer
I recently became treasurer of the new PyNetherlands Foundation. Here's why I wanted to get involved, and what we're building toward with PyCon NL.
Python has been central to my work for years: typed codebases, data pipelines, tooling that makes teams faster. At some point it felt wrong to only take from that ecosystem without putting anything back in.
So when the opportunity came up to start the PyNetherlands Foundation as treasurer, I said yes.
The foundation is the backbone of the Dutch Python community. It runs PyCon NL, the annual conference that brings together developers from across the Netherlands and beyond, and it supports the broader ecosystem of meetups, workshops, and community initiatives that keep the scene alive between events.
As treasurer my job is to keep the finances healthy enough that none of that stops. That means budgeting for the conference, managing relationships with sponsors, and making sure the foundation can actually execute on what it promises. It’s less glamorous than giving a talk, but it’s the work that lets everything else happen.
We’re now in the run-up to PyCon NL 2026, and there’s a lot to organise. If you’re a company that wants to support the Dutch Python community, or a developer who wants to attend or speak, keep an eye on pycon-nl.org. More details are coming.
Getting involved at the organisational level has already changed how I think about community. A conference isn’t a product someone else ships; it’s a collective effort that only works because people decide to show up and do the unsexy parts. I’m glad to be one of them.