Developers Summit 2021: A Report from One of Japan’s Largest IT Engineer Events

Hello, Yoshimasa here. Developers Summit2021, Japan’s largest IT engineer event, was held on February 19, 2021. I was a speaker at the conference. In a normal year, we would have reserved a large hotel and had talented, prominent speakers in the field offering a look at the latest tech of the season. Afterward, attendees would have a chance for some direct interaction, as well. This year, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic meant it had to be online, but even so nearly 7,000 engineers registered to participate, and it was another great event.

You can find details of future Developers Summits below. The next meeting will be this summer, but the schedule has not been fixed yet. While nothing has been decided, it is likely to be held online as well. If it is, that means participants from abroad can join for free, so please do join if you are interested. I think it is also a great opportunity to practice technical Japanese.

https://event.shoeisha.jp/devsumi

At the 2020 meeting I gave a presentation titled Introduction and Examples for the Python Certified Engineer Basic Exam and the Python Certified Engineer Data Analytics Exam together with Manabu Terada, one of our advisory board members. It was a lot of fun, and we had over 500 attendees watching. The details of our talk are as follows:

■Presentation Title: Introduction and Examples for the Python Certified Engineer Basic Exam and the Python Certified Engineer Data Analytics Exam

Note: You can download the presentation files here.

Presentation Outline

■Market trends

Market Trends and Issues in the High Profile Python Programming Language

Python market trends are increasingly important because the language itself is gaining so much attention. Python is gathering a lot of attention, and it came in first in the Survey on Programming Languages that IT Engineers Want to Learn (or Improve) in 2021 run by Parsol Career’s “TECH+Street, “a working adult community for IT and technology professionals, (Mynavi News). It also won the 2020 TIOBE Programming Language of the Year (Mynavi News). As a result of all that attention, new schools and instructional books are appearing one after the other, and momentum is building. At the same time, however, many of these new books and schools lack an understanding of Python’s inherent advantages, like its sustainability, and our organization is concerned that this will result in more engineers who do also lack that understanding.

Our organization is dedicated to raising sound Python engineers who understand the shared pythonic philosophy, and to contribute to the growth of the Python market by providing examinations to guide learning, a school certification system for talent development, and an integrator certification system.

・Check here for information on certified schools
・Check here for information on certified integrators.

In the roughly three years since its start, our Python 3 Certified Engineer Basic Exam has been taken by around 10,000 people. With the announcement of our hitting the 10,000 examinee mark, the number of examinees started to jump, and by our fourth year the number had reached 40,000. Then, in September 2020, Nikkei newspaper’s xTech ran a survey on Certifications to Get, and our certification was ranked second among private certifications, an achievement reached far faster than other certifications had managed.

■ Tips for Learning Python

Many people probably find it difficult to know where to start with books when they first decide to learn Python. In such cases, I believe that the first step is to find out what you want to do with Python. It is also a good idea to find people to study with you. Joining one of our recommended accredited schools is also a good step, as well as participating in online study groups and online events so you can easily find people to study with, even in these days of social distancing. Do not be afraid to join, and finding friends to study with can really help increase motivation. We also recommending studying environment, data structures, and control flow in particular for first time Python learners. For more details, please read the article これから始めるPython認定基礎試験 on the MyNavi news page, written by Terada.

Next, here are some popular Python study groups. Many are now being held online, and there is no charge to join, so this is also a great chance to study technical Japanese conversation along with Python itself. Many events also include social gatherings where members can mingle and network. There are also short presentation sections (often called Lightning Talk, or LT, in Japan), where anyone can present. Those LTs are a fun way to meet more people, too. If you find yourself interested, I strongly recommend giving one a try.