Six years ago, I was just a scrappy SHS student trying to one-up my friends and impress my instructor.
They were out here building web apps in Java (💀) or PHP abomination, and I was like nah, there’s gotta be a better way.
That’s when I found ✨Django✨
I was on the hunt for a framework that didn’t drown me in boilerplate just to get a basic site up.
Rails, Express, Laravel? Yeah, I peeked.
But Django kept popping up in dev convos and it had that main character energy.
Reliable.
Came with a badass admin panel out the box.
“Batteries-included” and ready to ship.
Looking back, picking Django was one of the sharpest plays in my dev journey.
No cap.
Has it been all sunshine? Hell no.
But I’ve been in the trenches with it daily and this is my no-BS take on the highs, lows, and everything in between.
Why Django Became My Go-To
Django’s been my go-to foundation for building fast and smart.
When I need to ship an MVP or spin up an admin panel for a client, I can get it done in hours not days hence it's the framewrk for perfectionists with deadlines!
Its built-in features: authentication, sessions, the ORM cover so much ground out of the box.
It lets me focus on product, not plumbing.
That speed and reliability? Still unmatched in my stack.
Countless times, clients have asked, “Can we add user profiles or password resets?”
and I’ve been able to implement them fast because Django already provides the tools. It’s a stark contrast to my early days, hand-coding solutions or wrestling with a patchwork of packages to get an app running.
The community is a major reason I’ve stayed loyal. As a beginner, I leaned heavily on Django’s official documentation, which is among the best in open source.
When I hit roadblocks, blog posts, Stack Overflow, and GitHub issues came through with answers to even the weirdest bugs. And when I reached out, I found real ones, devs who had my back. Felt like I wasn’t building solo anymore.
The Django community is committed to keeping the framework accessible, secure, and well-maintained, and that’s been invaluable to me.
The Django admin? Kinda iconic.
Hooked the moment I wired up my models and... boom an instant backend ui.
Perfect for quick edits, managing data, or spinning up an internal dashboard.
Sure, it’s not winning any beauty pageants with its ancient looking interface that's not even responsive lol.
Customizing the look? Lowkey a pain.
But honestly?
It works.
For me, my team, my clients - function over flex every time.
The Pain Points I’ve Wrestled With
Django has served me well, but it’s not without its challenges.
One of the most persistent pain points has been the ORM. On one hand, it’s a major productivity booster. I rarely have to write raw SQL, and that keeps my code clean and maintainable.
But when I’m dealing with complex queries or performance tuning, the abstraction can get in the way. N+1 queries, inefficient joins, and opaque aggregates have caused real performance issues, often at scale.
I wish the documentation did a better job of flagging these common traps.
Performance, in general, can be limiting. Django isn’t built for high-throughput, real-time applications by default. If I’m working on something that needs to handle thousands of concurrent requests or deliver low-latency interactions like a chat app or live data feed I need to bring in tools like Django Channels, Celery, Redis, and a lot of infrastructure-level optimization.
Horizontal scaling, load balancing, and caching are all achievable, but they demand significant time and tuning 😅.
I've spent more late nights than I’d like debugging performance under pressure.
The templating system is another area with trade-offs. For classic server-rendered applications, Django templates get the job done with flying colors!
they’re reliable and easy to reason about. But when building more dynamic, interactive UIs, they quickly become restrictive.
I’ve integrated React, Vue, and Angular into Django projects, and while it works, it adds complexity to the stack.
For more modern experiences, I often lean toward dedicated front-end frameworks or lighter tools like HTMX, depending on the project scope.
Security is one of Django’s strongest suits but don’t let that fool you. This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it situation.
One wrong config, one outdated package, one overlooked model field… and boom... you're in vulnerability city. Even with Django’s fortress of CSRF protection and XSS shields, you cannot drop your guard. Vigilance isn’t optional here; it’s a full-time job. Paranoia becomes a skill.
Sleep? Overrated. Logs? Watched like a hawk. Updates? Installed before they even finish releasing.
The framework provides excellent defaults: CSRF protection, XSS prevention, and solid authentication out of the box.
But relying solely on those defaults can lead to blind spots. I’ve learned that misconfigured settings, outdated dependencies, or careless model design can introduce real vulnerabilities.
Staying secure requires keeping up with best practices and maintaining discipline across the entire dev and deployment workflow.
My Perspective After Six Years
Six years in, and Django’s still the framework I reach for first.
The docs? Top-tier.
The stability? Rock solid.
And the community? Feels like a giant group chat of devs who’ve got your back.
When I need to build fast and keep it maintainable, Django shows up.
Yeah, it has its quirks performance hiccups, awkward ORM edge cases, and an overwhelming sea of third-party packages.
But show me a framework without trade-offs.
For me, Django’s pros still outweigh the cons by a mile.
If you’re new to Django, here’s the real talk:
Learn the conventions they’ll save you time.
But stay flexible.
Don’t be afraid to drop into raw SQL when the ORM starts acting up.
If templates feel like handcuffs, try React, Vue, or HTMX.
Django’s been around this long for a reason it's flexible enough to evolve with you.
I’ve built with it through sleepless nights, production fires, and last-minute launches.
There’ve been frustrations, sure.
But also some of my proudest wins.
So here’s to what’s next
More learning.
More building.
And more reasons to keep choosing Django.