EuroPython 2025 in Prague Recap
I just returned from a wonderful week in Prague for EuroPython 2025. The PyCharm team had a booth in the exhibitor hall for three days, which meant it was a chance to chat with hundreds of fellow developers and also spend some good in-person time with my team.
PyCharm Team (partial) - Kristel Cocoli, me, Jodie Burchell, Cheuk Ting Ho, Valerie Andrianova
The big news for PyCharm in 2025 is AI features (AI Assistant and our coding agent, Junie), a unified product rather than separate Community and Pro editions, uv support, a free 30-day trial of both Pro and AI features, and a bunch more.
PyCharm Booth
One of the big takeaways from the conference was that professional developers are generally using AI tools, but no one had fully automated any workflows that I spoke with. Lots of users of AI chat, everyone was experimenting with agents, but in terms of total replacements? Not there. And seems a long way off, if ever. At the same time, demoing our agent, Junie, was a pleasure because if you have a little knowledge around how to prompt it and use Guidelines properly, you can get a lot done.
What follows is a day-by-day recap of my conference experience.
Monday - Arrival in Prague
I arrived early Monday morning after two overnight flights from Boston. Check-in time was 3 pm, so I had much of the day to sort out my jet lag and explore the city. If you’ve never been to Prague before, it is a truly gorgeous place, especially in the summer, combining history, architecture, and a beautiful river, the Vltava, that runs through the middle of it.
Vltava River
There are 20 large, circular vaults along the river, now repurposed as bars and cafes, that were originally used to store ice.
Ice Vaults
The conference venue was the Congress Centre, here seen in a picture from my hotel room.
Congress Centre
Nearby is the enormous Vyšehrad fort overlooking the river.
Vyšehrad
It even has several tennis courts along it now!
Tennis Court at Vyšehrad
Throughout the city, there is an amazing juxtaposition of the modern and historic. Check out the Nusle Bridge, right near the venue.
Nusle Bridge
Tuesday - Conference Check-in
On Tuesday morning, I headed over to the conference venue to pick up my badge and help my colleagues set up the booth.
Conference Badge
There were tutorials and summits on both Monday and Tuesday, but the exhibitor hall didn’t open to the public until Wednesday, so I had a day to prepare PyCharm demos, catch up with friends, attend a few summit discussions, and generally prepare for the coming days.
In the evening, I felt in need of an additional book, as I had read two on the flights over. Fortunately, the Globe Bookstore and Cafe was downtown and only a 45-minute or so walk.
Globe Bookstore and Cafe
I picked up a copy of this John le Carré classic, which I’ve read before, but I’m at that stage in life where I’ve started re-reading all the classics I read two decades before. They hit different now that I’m closer in age to both the authors and the subjects. This one is probably his best book.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - Booth Duty
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were a blur of activity as I was primarily at the booth. I ran into many friends, including Velda Kiara.
Velda Kiara
My colleague, Kristel Cocoli, was an absolute machine giving demos non-stop all three days.
Kristel Cocoli
Our video team recorded several interviews for later use:
Paul Everitt with Sebastián Ramírez
DSF President Thibaud Colas
Jodie Burchell
Two highlights I was able to sneak away for were Sebastián’s very well-attended talk on FastAPI.
Sebastián Ramírez
And on Friday morning, Django’s open space 20th birthday celebration, which featured cake and balloons.
The exhibit booth closed early on Friday at 4 pm, so I had time to explore the city before my flight the next morning. I ended up heading out to dinner with some Django friends, Paolo Melchiorre and Kátia Nakamura. Here we are in front of the National Museum.
The subway in Prague is amazing: the main line arrives every 2 minutes like clockwork and there is an easy-to-use local app for payments. All of this is mind blowing to an American like me.
Subway with Paolo Melchiorre
We got off near the National Museum and then ate at Pizzerie Pulcinella, which was excellent.
National Museum
Pizza at Pizzerie Pulcinella
Tiramisu at Pizzerie Pulcinella
We then wandered around a bit afterwards to walk off the pizzas consumed.
Henry’s Tower
Na Příkopě
Jubilee Synagogue
I wish I had more time to fully explore Prague’s rich history and amazing architecture.
Saturday - Fly Home
Saturday morning, I fit in a run along the river with my ultra-marathon colleague, Galina Mitricheva, before heading off to the airport. Then it was a short flight to Amsterdam and a longer one home to Boston, USA. Traveling west is easier than going east, but I was still a bit tired after landing.
In short, EuroPython was a wonderful trip. It’s a slightly more intimate affair than PyCon US, but no less interesting in terms of the companies, people, and talks. I definitely recommend anyone with the chance to attend it in the future!