Caktus Blog

Greetings to those who read this, wherever or whenever you may be on the space-time continuum. I’m Lindsey and currently serve as Curator of Community Revelations here at Caktus Group. It’s a fun and interesting title, right? A little nonsensical, and a smidge confusing. Individually the words are familiar, but together it’s just a mix of jibber jabber. This might very well be the case, but housed within Caktus, I hope to bind each of these words together so that they coalesce with common meaning. Meaning that calls in my own vocation as a chaplain and ordained minister (priest) in The Episcopal Church, while bringing into fruition my desire to understand and cultivate (nay, curate!) relationships within the communities I live and work.

Nearly every week, I receive an email or two from a third party expressing interest in buying Caktus. As a matter of habit, I don't open them, let alone respond. Most are scattershot, venture capital firms looking for Software-as-a-Service companies (which Caktus is not). But when an employee approached me in 2018 expressing an interest in making Caktus employee-owned, I listened.

We’re thankful for many things around here — our customers, our followers, our growing team, our community. We’re also thankful for a wealth of information available online that educates, inspires, and entertains!

Pictured: From left to right, musicians Sebastian Peszko, Francisco Batista, and Filippo Dall’Asta in Berlin, Germany.

In early November, my husband and I celebrated a friend’s birthday with dinner and a show. The birthday boy has eclectic tastes and it’s always a treat to be included in his plans. Little did I know, however, that our night out in Berlin, Germany, would be related to my day job with Caktus, which is of course, based in Durham, North Carolina … As a side note, I’ve been working remotely from Berlin since August 2021.

October brought with it a (slight) change in the weather as well as the return of DjangoCon! In between our usual fall routines, here are some of the interesting things we have been clicking on — a nice mix of food for thought and actual food! Click for yourself and see what you think:

This blog is a continuation of my last post about my professional background and transition to a new career at Caktus Group. As an update: I still dig it here.

We’ve waited eagerly for DjangoCon 2021 since last year’s event was cancelled due to COVID-19. Not only is the event back, but it’s free to attend! DjangoCon will take place virtually on October 22 and 23 — it will be unprecedented since this is the first time the conference will be virtual.

We’re reviving a blog series from a few years ago in which we compile and share the things Cakti are clicking on — articles, videos, podcasts — whether it’s tech-related, an idea for social good, or just something interesting or amusing that caught someone’s eye. Have a look at this recommended reading and let us know what you think:

There are multiple ways to schedule tasks in your Django app, but there are some advantages to using Celery. It’s supported, scales well, and works nicely with Django. Given its wide use, there are also lots of resources for learning more about it, and once learned, that knowledge is likely to be useful on other projects.

This is a blog post about where I come from and where I’m headed as a team member at Caktus Group. I’ll only be on my soapbox for a few paragraphs, pinky promise.