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Django is a free Python framework that developers use to build fast, simple, and scalable websites.
The rapid adoption of Python in recent years shows how more and more engineering teams are turning to open source technologies. Here’s how to find a Django or Python developer candidate who has truly mastered the nuances and power of the language.
Technical hiring has become more strategic
Technical hiring has historically been transactional — but with growing competition in today’s job market, companies are focusing on making technical hiring more strategic. Although in its early days, we’re seeing how AI and machine learning can improve candidate engagement and experience through automation.
As shown in the Table below, 35% of technical hiring teams think that AI is shaping the future of hiring. Chatbots, automated sourcing, and algorithms that show jobs to targeted audiences are just a few examples of the technologies that are disrupting traditional practices.
An article published in ZDNet cites that there are now 8.2 million developers all over the world who use Python — and that population is now larger than the 7.6 million developers who build in Java. Python’s rapid rise can be attributed to the growing interest in AI and machine learning, and the wealth of third-party developer tools in the current market.
How to hire strong Django and Python Developers
Although there’s no foolproof way to hire top talent, there are questions you can pose that will help determine the breadth and depth of a candidate’s knowledge of a language. If you’re looking to hire Python developers, make sure that you give the candidate the opportunity to show their understanding of the language’s benefits and limitations — our friends at freelance platform, Toptal, share proven techniques for finding the most promising Python developers. Hint: look for an appetite to learn and solve problems — prior experience with Object Relational Mapping (ORM) tools or Python development is also important.
Codility’s Django Tasks are best to use for screening and interviewing full-stack, backend, and web developers that work in Django. The tasks gauge how candidates use their knowledge to solve problems efficiently within a given time. Couple these tasks with a web design task for a web developer and you have a solid technical screening for that role. Tasks are automatically scored and hiring managers can choose to playback the candidates’ code or take their solution into a sandbox for further analysis.
According to Maciej Gol, Senior Software Engineer at Codility, “From my personal experience, in terms of simplicity, one of the biggest assets of Django as a framework is ease of use. And it’s like a hammer: a great solution for problems it’s intended for; for other problems, too.”
Ensure that Django developers are making the most out of the framework by avoiding these common mistakes as cited by Toptal.
In closing
Django is the best framework for fast-scaling companies — that’s why huge brands like Instagram, Spotify, NASA, and Mozilla have used it to build their tried-and-trusted websites. Other brands that use Django include: Disqus, Pinterest, Mahalo, The Washington Post, Eventbrite, and YouTube.
There are thousands of ready-to-use solutions within Python that can be unlocked and leveraged with the right skills. CNBC recently shared the top 10 most popular tech skills of 2020 — and both Python and Django made the cut along with other technologies like AWS, CompTIA, and Angular.