Ana Balica

Hi, I'm Ana.

I'm a software developer. I mostly do Python. This blog is about my adventures with code, travel experiences and relevant life events. I try not to take myself too seriously.

Here's what I'm doing now.

Occasionally I give talks.

Please don't take my words for granted, because Internet is full of bad advice, and I might be part of it inadvertently.

DjangoCon, ponies and emoji

Early on when DjangoCon Europe 2015 was announced, it instantly differentiated itself from other conferences. Organized this year in Cardiff, UK, DjangoCon set its goals high by planning 3 days of talks, 2 days of sprints and providing inclusive environment...

The tale of DRY with django-crispy-forms | Part II

When you write a blog post, people of Internet will point out any mistakes they find. It’s a great opportunity to improve existing code and look into other solutions. After posting The tale of DRY with django-crispy-forms I found out...

Pagination in Django

Isn’t it delightful when things just work? That’s how it is for Django pagination feature. Say you are writing a blog in Django. Actually seems like a silly idea. If you want a blog, get yourself a static blog, or...

Take me to Bali

Bali is probably one of those beautiful and exotic places, that are actively advertised at your local travel agency. Paradise on earth, I think, they call it. Not without a reason, of course. It’s this beautiful, haunting place, where you...

Contributing to open source like a boss

This is a collection of the most obvious, nevertheless overlooked, bullet points that every contributor should be aware of when making the first contribution to an open source project. I remember my first contribution to MoinMoin Wiki Engine and it...

Systers Portal

Today I was listening to Swift episode by Programming Throwdown podcast series. At some point hosts raise the question of open source involvement. You probably also received this piece of advice: If you want to get your hands on some...

The tale of DRY with django-crispy-forms

So you have this Django app. If you are like me and don’t have quite the skills for a good UI design, you probably stick to bootstrap. You know you will have a bunch of forms and you don’t want...

Erasmus FAQ

I see a lot of interest from students towards going on Erasmus. Their excitement is understandable, nevertheless students tend to rely heavily on other’s experience and ask same questions all over again (rather than reading piles of information on official...

Developers at Eco Village

Eco Village supports the idea that sustainable lifestyle can be revived in rural area of Moldova with the effort of the community. It’s also an NGO and a great bunch of people. It’s pretty cool how people with strong vision...

Python Moldova Meetup #3

Quite recently we organized our third Python Moldova Meetup. We also have updated the official Python wiki page and added Python Moldova to the list. Meanwhile Python Moldova Community exists over a year and counts 154 members at the moment....