Django: How Painful And Difficult It Is

Hello there!

Welcome back – or nice to have you for the first time!

Roberts Greibers here and in this post, I want to share with you how painful and difficult the Django framework is and how much Python is required for a Django developer position – this is especially important for Python beginners who are interested in becoming a Django developer. 

If you’re reading this post… 

And you’re seriously considering becoming a Python/Django developer

Starting from scratch and getting your very first Python/Django DEV job can make you feel a little lost -“Where to actually start?”

All these doubtful questions can come to your mind and you can start to feel unsure about yourself

If that sounds familiar, keep reading – this post is exactly for YOU!

In this post, I’ll shed a light on what’s actually possible, talk about how far my private mentoring clients are getting.

I’ll share how little Python experience I used to have when I first started and what you can learn from my experience. Also, I’ll mention stories from my own experience on why diving into the Django framework alone can be very painful and difficult.

I used to work a very regular job a couple of years ago, but in the past 5 years I’ve managed to change a lot and I’ve been working professionally as a Python developer for a long time now. 

Mostly focusing on the FinTech industry projects, working for a local company (ourspell.com) here in Riga, Latvia. We’re building a white label payment gateway platform used by clients all over Europe. 

Just to make this clear – We’re not gonna talk about some random predictions like Bitcoin going to the moon. 

I’m helping junior developers, to take the EASY WAY OUT – guiding them through the features I’ve developed in my career and letting them implement those features into their own portfolio projects so they can easily apply to job interviews and get hired.

This is what I’ve seen over and over again with my most successful mentoring clients.

So if this sounds good to you, let’s get started! 

Why You Will Fail With Django

The real reason why I wanted to write this post is that over the last couple of months I’ve worked very closely with my Mentoring clients and I’ve also been in active conversations with people on Linkedin and Twitter. 

By the way, I reply to all DMs and tweets, if you want to reach out to me feel free to send me a DM on one of those platforms.

I also give out great value nuggets, especially on Twitter, so if Python, Django, and web development overall are things you’re interested in, give me a follow and say Hi!

During the past months of engaging with clients and people online, I’ve noticed some people being very practical – working towards their goals day in and day out.

But then there are some special ones. 

Some people just live in a fantasy. 

I would never have been able to attend a tech conference in London to represent a company I was working for back in 2017 without a good work ethic.

And I’m really surprised by that because if you’ve ever worked as a developer – you can’t do anything with fantasies, guessing or any other “woo-woo” method, your “The Secret” book won’t solve your development problems, lol.

When you have to develop a feature with Python and Django there’s no room for fantasies and guessing.

It’s all about facts and practicality!

Painful And Difficult vs. Having A Private Life

You might be already doing all the stuff that seems obvious you have to do to start to work on your Django skills.

All of the above is good progress if you have the patience and willpower to follow through. I used to do everything above and I wasted a lot of time banging my head against a wall.

You see, the thing is – as a beginner some things are not obvious to you and you’ll have to sit and think for hours just to figure out how to do a simple Django thing – believe me if you have a life outside of coding, this is not something you want to do.

I did spend a lot of time trying to figure stuff out on my own because I was very curious and passionate about Django and Python overall. And I still am, but the best progress I made was when I had mentors explaining to me in a couple of sentences how things are supposed to work and where am I making a mistake. 

Having a mentor explaining things takes a couple of minutes instead of you sitting for hours and hours trying to figure stuff out on your own. 

Stop Watching “The Social Network”…

Why am I saying all this?

It’s because of people who live in a fantasy world…

…people who are watching “The Social Network” type of movies – living through the fantasy of Mark Zuckerberg’s life.

People who are JUST dreaming about becoming a Django developer one day

…Instead of digging through the documentation, trying to build Django projects every day. 

These people are not going to make it!

I honestly can’t see them getting anywhere if they don’t have the patience to at least get to the point where they’re banging their head against the wall to figure stuff out and trying to get help or guidance from someone.

Why You’re Gonna Get Fired

What I mentioned above is the BIGGEST problem I’ve noticed with aspiring Python and Django developers…

And it’s funny because the biggest dreamers are the laziest ones.

They’re literally making progress so slow… I can’t see any company hiring them to do the actual work.

When you’re hired as a Django developer you have to deliver results.

You have to build features.

There’s no time in business to sit around and say: “oh, wait guys, I have to figure out how to build this endpoint…”

If you’re not on point, you’re probably gonna get FIRED!

That’s what I’d do as a business owner.

I have this feeling junior Python developers don’t understand they’re supposed to know the tech for the positions they’re going to be hired for. 

How To Not Get Fired As A Django Developer

At least you should have passion and willingness to work harder than others, put in more hours and if you’re not as good with Python and Django stuff yet you should still continuously improve your programming skills.

That’s what I did when I first started

I used to work more hours than my colleagues!

I used to study more after work!

And I kept repeating the process for years until I felt confident enough I could go into any programming situation and solve it.

And I’m still learning new things every day, the learning process never stops – you just get better at it and learn to understand technical concepts faster.

So it’s surprising to see junior Python developers, some beginners not even willing to put in the work. 

I just can’t see them succeeding at all in the IT industry. 

And this is the CORE PROBLEM you’re dealing with as a beginner.

If you don’t have the DRIVE to put in the work, you’re not gonna make it even with tons of guidance!

Mentors can only show you the way, you have to DO THE WORK!

How To Make Sure You Succeed As A Django developer

What I’m trying to do with this blog post is I’m trying to show you WHAT IS ACTUALLY POSSIBLE.

If you’re working on your Python and Django skills, trying to become a professional Django developer

And if you do it right, you have to get help somewhere, you need the correct guidance. 

Because if I think back to my times when I first started with my personal Python and Django development journey…

And also the journey of becoming a better, professional person.

What helped me the most was – LESS information! (Yes, exactly, keep reading!) 

Because you have all the information available online anyway, there’s literally a documentation page for Django where every part of the Django framework is explained. 

The information about Django is available for free everywhere, so that’s really not the issue here.

It was more about the UNDERSTANDING of what is actually possible and how you should put together multiple parts of the Django framework to make the whole website work. 

The understanding of what’s expected from you as a Django developer in a work environment. 

And that was the case for me as someone who was extremely unfamiliar with Python programming and all the smart tech language people use in the IT industry. 

Just having someone to show me like:

“Hey, you know, there’s a slightly better way of doing what you’re trying to do in Python and Django, let me show you…”

Why You Must Start With Mindset And Then Django

The only reason you’re not there yet is that for 90% of Python beginners the BIGGEST PROBLEM is their mindset!

🧠 Your brains are wired for failure!

Basically, none of the beliefs you have at the moment will ever bring you close to excellence and professionalism. 

And it’s not only about Python, Django, and programming…

I’m talking about any human domain.

If you’re on Google search, looking for quick tricks to scramble together “some kind of” Python script – you’re at the bottom.

And what does pretty much everyone at the bottom have in common?

They’re surrounded by other bottom feeders who all exhibit the exact same destructive mindset.

You genuinely cannot comprehend how negatively your life experience has affected you by being surrounded by such amateurism.

Pretty much everyone in life is exactly where they deserve to be.

The universe has a strange way of returning to you what you put into it.

If you’re surrounded by poor people – you’re poor!

If you’re surrounded by people outside of the tech industry and, especially outside of programming, you’re not a developer and probably not going accidentally become one anytime soon!

You are surrounded by people who have DESERVED to be unskilled, working a low-level IT job.

People who lack the mindset, work ethic, and discipline to brute force the universe into their favor!

How To Change Your Habits

Let’s imagine a very popular TV show “Friends” for a second

If you measure the “Friends” societal rankings to the real world IT rankings, most junior Python developers are equivalent to the side characters in the “Friends” TV show.

Do you really think that anything these side characters learned from their life is going to help them become a real professional Python Django developer?

Your life (and mine 100% before finding proper mentors I can learn from) is VERY similar.

If what you have learned from 20, 30, 40, 50 years of life was going to be helpful in the case of becoming a Python Django developer you wouldn’t be reading this blog post, you’d be already enjoying your life, working in your dream job!

And don’t take this as an ego trip, I was literally a side character from “Friends” a couple of years ago as well with useless accumulated knowledge from an average childhood.

I’ve spoken to hundreds of people similar to you.

You need to understand you have to be continuously improving, learning to BECOME someone who can achieve great things.

And it’s only possible through changing your mindset and habits.

No amount of Python tutorials can save you from yourself.

And the best way to make this process less difficult is to have someone by your side who is already where you want to be.

You’re never going to stumble upon a better mindset than you already have, you have to learn it from people ahead of you.

Your Secret Python Django Weapon Is

You already know what’s the secret here.

Actually, ❌ there are no secrets when it comes to Python and Django programming. 

Even if you manage to Google search and find code already written for the problem you were trying to solve.

You’re literally still a “Friends” TV show side character.

Why Python Tutorials Are Like Lottery Tickets

If you find a Python Django tutorial online and it exactly solves the problem you were trying to solve…

Nothing has really changed except that you have a small part in a great show and maybe finally got a winning lottery ticket.

🧠 If you instead focused on TRAINING to BECOME someone worth MORE than a “Friends” TV show side character.

You could have 1 or 100 ready to use Python scripts (lottery tickets) but it won’t make any difference.

⚔️ Because you would already possess the SKILLS and MINDSET to achieve greatness.

How many times did one of these characters end up at the literal bottom and STILL find a way through?

How To Use Your Secret Python Django Weapon

What could have been their secret weapon?

Their MIND and SKILLS!

They could have developed minds and skills to let them manipulate the universe.

To allow them to achieve what they wanted to achieve and get hired for their dream job!

🧠  AND ⚔️

✅ Strong Mindset + Highly Skilled = Unbeatable person

❌ “Friends” side character + lottery ticket = short break before more failure

Conclusion

And that’s a really wonderful thing, a really wonderful position to be in. So I want to thank you very much for reading!

And I would like to invite you to really take that journey together with me, I’ve already helped dozens of people to get better at Python programming.

I’ve done this over the last couple of years. 

This is everything I do – I live in Python programming, I breathe Django development.

And I can personally help you build your very first Python Django portfolio project from scratch. 

💡 The way to do that is for you to book a free consultation call with me.

Literally, there’s information down below on how you can reach out to me. 

You follow the instructions below, contact me and we will discuss details – If I’ll see I can help you, we’ll schedule a quick call and move forward from there.

If you feel a bit lost…

If you feel a little lost, but you know for sure you want to build your career as a Python developer, but you don’t know where to start…

Maybe, you don’t know HOW or WHAT to do or anything at all – You feel LOST…

THEN – This is exactly for you!

If you kind of already know Python and what it is that you could be doing as a Django developer and maybe you even have already built some Python projects, but want to become more professional as a developer, then this call is also for you. 

As I said, the details are down below. 

You’ll be talking to me – a real person! 

And if you then want to become a client for the long term, we can also discuss that on that call. 

Other than that, I want to thank you very much for reading.

I appreciate that, and I’ll talk to you very soon!