Savannah Ostrowski
Savannah Ostrowski is a Python Core Developer and a product lead for Python Developer Experience and Notebooks at Snowflake. She helps maintain the argparse module in the Python standard library and the new JIT compiler introduced in Python 3.13. A self-taught developer with a background in geospatial computing, she has built a career at the intersection of developer tools and open-source software.
Before Snowflake, Savannah led product for Docker’s runtime, working on foundational technology for the container ecosystem, including Docker Engine (moby/moby) and Docker CLI. She previously worked at Microsoft on the Azure Developer CLI and was the product manager for the Pylance language server.
Savannah lives in beautiful Washington state with her husband and their three cats, enjoying pottery and reading in her spare time.
Session
Contributing to Python can feel intimidating, especially when it comes to areas like the interpreter or JIT compilation. A common misconception is that to get started, you need deep expertise in compilers or internals—but that’s not true. Some of the most impactful work in Python isn't about writing complex optimizations; it's about making things work across platforms, maintaining build systems, improving developer experience, and ensuring stability for millions of users.
In this talk, I’ll share my journey contributing to Python, from maintaining the JIT build system to maintaining parts of the standard library. I’ll highlight the often-overlooked but critical work that keeps Python running—from dependency management and build automation to API design considerations and documentation. If you've ever thought “ I’m not a compiler engineer, can I really contribute to Python?” —this talk is for you. By the end, you'll clearly understand the many ways you can contribute and why Python needs more than just compiler engineers to keep evolving.