Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart. He links business analysis, strategy, clear goals and ROI to practical technology.
LinkedIn →Hire Django developers
who extend your app without rewriting it.
A dedicated Django developer, or a small team, who can open your app and read its models and migrations. Then they extend it the way its first author intended, not the way a rewrite would. Each one is vetted on a real Django codebase before they touch yours. They work inside your repo and your stand-ups, and you can scale up or down monthly without a hiring cycle. You interview the actual developer and ask about your models directly before anything is signed.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
14-day trial
Try before you commit
Start Your 14-Day Risk-Free Trial
Work together on a real brief for up to 14 days, then decide whether to scale.
What you get
Hiring a Django developer through PixelCrayons gets you a vetted engineer inside your codebase. They work with your models, database changes, admin and app structure. They extend the ORM, the API and background tasks without rewriting what works. A named coordinator and escalation contact back them. You interview the developer first and scale monthly.
- Vetted on live Django appsEvery developer has shipped Django services under our delivery standards before yours.
- A second developer who knows your appA named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named colleague ready to cover the codebase.
- Working inside your teamYour Django repo, your stand-ups and your issue tracker, inside your sprint rhythm.
Our work
See what we've built
and the results it brought.
Real projects for real clients, with results we can show.
2004
Established
500+
Agencies served
4,500+
Projects delivered
340%
Revenue growth · 7 months
eCommerce
+127%
Organic traffic · 5 months
SaaS
85%
Faster delivery · backlog cleared
via agency partner
Technologies we work with
- Commerce and web
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Magento
- WordPress
- Webflow
- Next.js
- Marketing
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads
- GA4
- Klaviyo
- Cloud
- AWS
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud
- AI models
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Google Gemini
- Build and deploy
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
- GitHub Actions
- CRM and automation
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Zapier
- n8n
Product names and marks are trademarks of their owners. Naming a technology means our teams build with it. It does not mean a partnership, certification or endorsement.
Monthly rate for this hire
From $3,200per month, 160 hoursSenior specialists from $4,000, quoted per person.
Direct prices for brands and companies buying for themselves.
What they cover
Django skills
that keep your app easy to extend.
This is not a generalist who has finished one Django tutorial. Their job is your app itself. They know how its models connect and what depends on what. The next developer can extend their work without a handover call.
Core Django work
- The ORM and migrations: database changes written to run on a live table, not just an empty one
- The Django admin set up as a real internal tool, with permissions, filters and inline editing
- Class-based views where they are worth it, function-based views where they are not
- Django REST Framework: serializers, viewsets and permissions that match how your logins really work
- App structure kept easy to read as the code grows, so one app does not quietly become the whole project
The tools around Django
- PostgreSQL design, indexes and query speed, including the queries the ORM hides from you
- Celery and Redis for background jobs, scheduled tasks and anything too slow for a page request
- Caching added only where it helps (a view, part of a template or a query), not everywhere
- Careful releases: WSGI or ASGI, static and media files, and settings that never leak a password into the repo
- Settings kept in step across development, staging and live, with no silent differences
Testing, security and review
- Working inside your existing Django app with care, following its rules, not rewriting it
- Testing with Django's test client, factories where they help, and test coverage that holds up in review
- Security patches: Django's own security releases tracked and applied, not found during an audit
- Code review as a habit, not a gate wheeled out before release
- Estimates that hold, and saying early when they will not
In practice
What a Django developer
works on between releases.
The day-to-day of the role, what marks out a strong hire, and what they need from you in week one.
A normal week in the app
Feature work sits alongside the upkeep nobody plans for. There is a new model field, its migration and the DRF serializer that shares it. A Celery task has started timing out because the table it reads has grown. A slow admin list is traced to a missing select_related. A Django security release is applied, tested and released before it becomes urgent. Pull requests stay small enough to review in one sitting. Anything touching a migration carries a note on how it runs against live data and how to undo it. The rest of the week goes on reading code before changing it.
Interview questions that show a strong candidate
Show them a short view and template and ask them to find the N+1 query. That is where one page fires many small queries. Strong candidates spot it quickly. They explain when select_related fits and when prefetch_related does. Ask when they would use a signal and when they would avoid one. Good answers mention that signals hide behaviour from the next reader. Ask what belongs in settings and what belongs in environment variables. Ask how they would split a database change so a release never waits on a long lock. Good Django developers talk about the SQL the ORM writes, not just their Python.
Have this ready for the first day
Give them repo access and a local setup that works, such as a Docker Compose file or a written guide. Add a copy of live data with personal details removed, because many Django bugs only appear on real data. Give read access to error tracking such as Sentry and to whatever watches the Celery queues. Tell them which Django and Python versions you run and whether an upgrade is planned. Name the person who approves migrations to live. If none of this exists yet, setting it up is a good first task. It pays back for every developer who joins after them.
When Django is the wrong hire
Your app may be mostly a thin API in front of heavy background or real-time work. Then a Python developer who knows FastAPI may fit better, and our Python developers page covers that. If the pain is the interface, a React or frontend developer will fix it faster. If you plan to rewrite the app in a different framework, hire for where you are going. A Django developer is the right call when the value lives in the models, the admin and the migrations. It suits you when you want those extended, not replaced.
How it works
How hiring works,
from brief to first day.
Start
Brief and a call
We sign an NDA and you tell us about the app, the Django version and the gap.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm when your proposal will arrive and put forward the developer whose track record fits. You interview the person who would work on your models before anything is signed.
Your decision
You sign off
You confirm the scope, the payment and the access we need. Nothing starts before this.
Typically 2 to 3 business days later
The developer starts
They review your models, migrations and app structure, then join your stand-ups.
Every month
Scale up or down
Bring in a second Django developer as the backlog grows, and drop back to one when it shrinks. Team size is reviewed monthly, with no hiring decision.
You make requests, give approvals and see the weekly review in your Prism workspace. Each decision is written down with the result it was meant to bring. See how Prism runs the work →
Get a Proposal
Meet the people who will do the work before you sign
Why through us
Why hire through us:
the developer and the review checks behind them.
Hire Django developer talent alone and you get their skills. Hiring through a company that delivers this work every day keeps your app easy to maintain. It stays that way even when the person who wrote the last migration is out.
Vetted on live Django apps
Every developer in our team has shipped Django services before yours. Those services met our own delivery standards before the developer joined any client. Migrations, admin work and DRF endpoints are reviewed weekly, held to the same standard you will see. A whiteboard test does not show how someone writes a migration for a live table. We would rather read the migrations they have really shipped.
A second developer who knows your app
You get a named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named colleague ready to cover your code. They are briefed on your app from day one. They follow the model notes and migration log the first developer keeps. If the first developer is on leave or leaves, they step in without a slow start, even during an outage. A solo freelancer has nobody to pass that knowledge to. A first in-house hire needs a whole team around them before there is any backup. You get one Django developer, with review checks on their work.
Working inside your team
Your Django repo, your stand-ups, your issue tracker, and your email domain if you like. Dedicated means they work inside your repo and your sprint rhythm. Your tickets never vanish into a separate queue.
Quality checks you can see
You get a weekly written review in Prism, tied to the sprint. Pull requests are reviewed against a written standard. Every migration and package update is logged with a reason. If you ever question what the month bought, the migration log and review notes answer first.
Side by side
Hiring on your own,
compared with hiring through us.
An in-house hire is still right when your Django app is a permanent, full-time job central to your business. We will say so when it is. This is for every other case.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a productive developer | A full recruiting cycle: sourcing, interviews, notice periods, onboarding | Eligible engagements can typically start within two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed |
| Vetting | CV screening and a take-home task: you find out the truth on the job | A track record on real Django services under our own standards, reviewed weekly |
| Management work | All yours: goals, reviews, career growth, leave cover | A named PM and escalation path are included; you set the sprint priorities, not the admin |
| Scaling | A new hiring cycle either way: months to grow, severance to shrink | Resize monthly: add a developer before a bigger migration, step down once it ships |
| Risk when it doesn't work | A wrong hire slows the team, leaves a tangled migration history, then a difficult exit | If the fit is wrong, we propose someone else; leaving takes a handover call, not a negotiation |
Who is accountable
The people responsible
for your work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical work, client updates and project management together, so work moves smoothly from brief to launch.
LinkedIn →Every engagement
A named coordinator and escalation contact
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Before you sign
Our commitments
Each one says where it applies and links to its full terms.
14-Day Risk-Free Trial
For eligible managed specialists. Up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. End within the trial and pay nothing for eligible trial hours. Continue beyond it and those hours are billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work remains ours if you stop.
Eligible managed-specialist roles only, one trial per customer. Not offered for AI, chatbot, prompt, automation, API-integration or QA work. Brand and graphic designers, brand strategists, video editors, content writers, copywriters and content marketers start with a paid pilot.
Full termsTime-zone overlap
At least four hours a day inside your core working hours. Two hours plus a daily written handover for the US West Coast.
Managed specialists only; not a staffing promise for project teams.
Full termsClear IP & Ownership Terms
Your materials remain yours. Bespoke deliverable rights, licences and handover are agreed before work starts.
All engagements.
Full termsClear Delivery & Escalation Ownership
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Full termsWhy not just hire a freelancer?
A freelancer can be the right choice for a single, well-defined task. We are set up for work that needs an accountable team: a named coordinator, delivery reviewed by QA and a senior lead before release, and continuity arrangements written into the engagement. Confidentiality, ownership and escalation terms are agreed in writing before work starts.
How does time-zone overlap work?
Your engineers work at least four hours a day inside your core working hours. We set the window with you before the engagement starts and hold it for as long as the engagement runs. For the US West Coast the live overlap is two hours each morning, with a written handover at the end of every Indian day. We do not run night shifts: engineers who work nights leave quickly, and keeping the same people on your team matters more to us than a longer overlap.
Can we try you before we commit?
For eligible managed specialists, yes: up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. Stop within it and eligible trial hours are free; continue and they're billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work stays ours. Project work and other roles get a paid pilot with scope, acceptance criteria, duration and fee agreed first.
What if we want to stop?
Cancellation, notice and any renewal terms are written into your proposal or statement of work before you accept it. If an engagement ends early, we hand over completed, paid-for work and list any unfinished work separately. For an eligible specialist trial, you can stop within the trial window and pay nothing for eligible trial hours.
How we handle claims, credentials and your data: group credentials, dated ratings, how case figures are signed off, client permissions and data handling.
How we vet
How we vet a Django developer
and what to ask them.
Good Django developers talk about the queries the ORM writes, not just their Python. Each stage below tests for that. It also checks for migrations that run safely on live data.
- 01Shortlist on real Django servicesWe put forward the developer whose track record on real Django services fits your app, version and gap. That work met our own standards and was reviewed weekly. You can ask to see real Django code they have shipped, under NDA.
- 02Ask them to find an N+1 queryShow them a short view and template and ask them to find it. Strong candidates spot it quickly and explain when select_related fits and when prefetch_related does. Ask when they would avoid a signal. Good answers mention behaviour hidden from the next reader.
- 03Ask about migrations on a live tableAsk how they would split a database change so a release never waits on a long lock. Ask what belongs in settings and what in environment variables. Any migration should come with a note on how it runs on live data and how to undo it.
- 04The trial: models before featuresIf you take the trial, it runs on a scope agreed before it starts. Expect your models, migrations and app structure to be reviewed and summarised in writing first. Then come pull requests small enough to review in one sitting.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
Eligible engagements can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed. Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal will arrive. You interview the developer before anything is signed. Is your app on an old Django version, or is its migration history unwritten? Then expect reading before shipping.
It is short and done in order. First the NDA, then repo and environment access. Next they review your models, migrations and app structure and write a summary of what they found. The first sprint's priorities are agreed before anything ships. From week one they join your stand-ups, so they learn your code inside your process.
Every pull request is reviewed against a written standard before it reaches you. The weekly review in Prism covers what shipped, what is in progress and what is blocked. Migrations get the same care as app code, since they are the hardest part of a Django app to undo. If you run your own review process, they work inside it.
Yes, one is the normal start: a single Django developer handles most app backlogs comfortably. A second person, such as a DRF specialist or a QA engineer, joins when the scope needs it. The monthly resize works both ways. One well-kept Django backlog seldom needs a whole team behind it.
Tell us early and we will put forward another Django developer, with no negotiation needed. The new developer gets the model notes, migration decisions and open threads. So a switch costs days, not a restart. The proposal names the second Django developer and says whether their cover is in the monthly rate.
Yes, when that suits the work better. A dedicated developer suits an ongoing backlog in an app you will keep extending. A fixed-scope job often works better as a project, and we will point you there instead. We will say which fits on the first call.
Interview your Django developer
before you sign anything.
Tell us about the app and the gap, and meet the actual developer before anything is signed. If you really need a project rather than a person, we will say so on the first call.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
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