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Calvin Hendryx-Parker, Six Feet Up CTO and AWS Community Hero, returned to the Django Chat Podcast where he discussed the 2022 Python Web Conference and some of the Django projects he’s been working on. Specifically, Calvin talked about a recent project where Six Feet Up’s developers used Django and AWS to build a product that predicts the first strike of any thunderstorm with a 99.6% accuracy and a 15- to 25-minute lead time.

“All the lightning watches and warnings that you get are based on knowing where lightning is striking now, not where lightning will be,” said Calvin. “This is a new thing that didn’t exist until we helped him put it into a production state.”

The ability to predict the first (and last) lightning strike not only saves lives, but it saves time and money. From air travel to golf tournaments and construction equipment protection, the implications of FLASH are far-reaching. In fact, due to the impressive, purposeful and transformative nature of the technology, FLASH has been designated as one of Six Feet Up’s 10 IMPACTFUL Projects. Six Feet Up’s 10-year goal is to complete 10 IMPACTFUL Projects by 2025, and with clients like FLASH, the company is well on its way to achieving its objective.

Read our case study, “Predict Lightning Strikes using Django and AWS” for more information on the FLASH project.
LoudSwarm and Python Web Conf
Calvin also discussed the 4th annual Python Web Conference (#PWC2022), which was created as a virtual event before the pandemic. The conference has grown exponentially over the years, with the 2022 event featuring 375 attendees from nearly every time zone.

Key to the Python Web Conference is LoudSwarm by Six Feet Up — a Django-based, highly engaging virtual event platform built by the tech community, for the tech community.  LoudSwarm combines known platforms like Zoom and Slack into one interface and has a host of other features.

Listen to Episode 113 - “Production APIs - Calvin Hendryx-Parker”

The Django Chat Podcast is hosted by William Vincent and Carlton Gibson, featuring interviews, development tips and new features from the Django community. Read Calvin’s show notes and the transcript on the Django Chat Podcast website.