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Top 18 Django Developers You Should Know

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Django has grown into one of the world’s most popular web frameworks, powered by a vibrant global community of developers.

From co-creators of the framework and long-time core contributors, to authors of essential books, creators of beloved open-source tools, and mentors leading the next generation—these individuals continue to shape Django’s evolution. This curated list highlights the most impactful Django developers today, recognized for their public contributions, technical leadership, community-building, and lasting influence across the ecosystem.

  1. Simon Willison
  2. Jacob Kaplan-Moss
  3. Adrian Holovaty
  4. Dr. Russell Keith-Magee
  5. Carlton Gibson
  6. Audrey Roy Greenfeld
  7. Daniel Roy Greenfeld
  8. William S. Vincent
  9. Andrew Godwin
  10. Daniele Procida
  11. Paolo Melchiorre
  12. Adam Johnson
  13. Ola Sitarska
  14. Matthew Westcott
  15. Antonio Melé
  16. Raymond Penners
  17. David Cramer
  18. Aisha Bello

Now, let’s dive into each of these experts’ profiles:

Simon Willison

YouTube Video

 The Future of Open Source and AI.

Nationality: British

Co-creator of Django, Simon is a veteran web developer and open-source advocate.

He helped create Django in the mid-2000s and has been blogging about web development since 2002. After co-founding the social conference startup Lanyrd (YC 2010), he turned to data journalism and open-source data tooling. He is the creator of Datasette, an open-source framework for publishing datasets, and works full-time on open-source projects built around SQLite and Python. Simon is a frequent speaker at tech events and serves on the Python Software Foundation board.

Jacob Kaplan-Moss

I’m an average developer. I’m not a genius. I’m just a person who works hard and cares a lot.

Nationality: American

Jacob is a co-creator of Django and a prominent engineering leader in the Python community.

He helped develop Django alongside Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison and was instrumental in open-sourcing it in 2005. Jacob has served in many roles: he co-owned a consulting firm (REVSYS), worked in government (18F) and industry (Heroku, Salesforce), and is now a security expert at Latacora. He’s an advocate for diversity and ethics in tech, known for his PyCon keynote “On Being an Average Developer”. Jacob remains active in the community through writing and speaking.

Adrian Holovaty

Top 18 Django Developers You Should Know

Nationality: American

Adrian is the co-creator of Django and an innovator at the intersection of journalism and technology.

In 2003–2005, while at the Lawrence Journal-World, he and Jacob Kaplan-Moss built Django to power news sites. Adrian’s background in journalism led him to emphasize rapid development and the “don’t repeat yourself” principles in Django. He later founded EveryBlock (a local news startup acquired by MSNBC) and, more recently, created Soundslice, an interactive music education platform. Though less publicly visible in recent years, Holovaty remains a coding founder and musician.

Dr. Russell Keith-Magee

Nationality: Australian

Russell is a long-time Django core developer and a global Python leader.

He joined the Django core team in 2006 and later served as President of the Django Software Foundation for five years. Russell is also the founder of the BeeWare project, which aims to enable Python on every platform (mobile, desktop, web). He is known for his engaging talks and advocacy of Python in new domains. With a PhD in Computer Science, Russell combines deep technical knowledge with community-minded leadership.

Carlton Gibson

Nationality: British

Carlton served as a Django Fellow from 2018 to 2023 – one of the paid contractors devoting full-time effort to Django’s maintenance.

In that role, he merged patches, handled releases, and guided the framework’s development. Carlton is also co-host of the Django Chat podcast (with Will Vincent), where he discusses Django news and interviews guests. He maintains numerous Django packages (like django-filter and django-crispy-forms) and is an advocate for clean, well-tested code. Carlton lives in Spain and is known for his friendly, approachable teaching style.

Audrey Roy Greenfeld

Nationality: American

Audrey is an accomplished Django developer, open-source creator, and author.

She is perhaps best known for creating Cookiecutter, the popular project templating tool, and co-authoring the influential book Two Scoops of Django. Audrey’s work has significantly improved the Django developer experience by providing best practices and reusable templates. She has been active in the Python community for over a decade, advocating for women in tech and mentoring new developers.

Audrey currently resides in Australia and continues to be involved in open source while also pursuing creative endeavors.

Daniel Roy Greenfeld

Top 18 Django Developers You Should Know

Nationality: American

Daniel (often known as “Pydanny”) is a seasoned Django developer, author, and engineering leader.

He co-wrote Two Scoops of Django with his wife Audrey, compiling years of hard-won knowledge into an indispensable guide. Dan has over 25 years of software experience, including working as a senior engineer at NASA and leading engineering at various startups. He has created and maintained many Django and Python libraries. Dan is also known for his engaging writing on software craftsmanship and his support of the community through mentorship and open-source contributions.

William S. Vincent

Nationality: American

Will is a prominent Django educator and author of a trilogy of books (Django for Beginners, Django for APIs, and Django for Professionals).

A former Django Software Foundation board member, Will co-hosts the Django Chat podcast with Carlton Gibson and curates the weekly Django News newsletter. He transitioned from a career in finance into tech, working at Quizlet and teaching at Williams College, before dedicating himself to Django education. Will’s approachable tutorials have helped tens of thousands of developers learn Django.

Andrew Godwin

Nationality: British

Andrew is a Django core developer best known for bringing asynchronous capabilities and schema migrations to Django.

He created South, the original migrations framework, and later integrated migrations into Django’s core (released in Django 1.7). Andrew also pioneered Django’s async support by developing Django Channels, enabling real-time features. He works as a senior engineer (formerly at Eventbrite) and is a sought-after speaker on Django’s architecture. His contributions have profoundly shaped modern Django applications.

Daniele Procida

Top 18 Django Developers You Should Know

Nationality: Italian

Daniele is a Django core developer and a champion of documentation in open source.

Based in Cardiff, he worked as Community & Documentation Manager at Divio (the company behind django CMS) and later at Canonical, focusing on documentation systems. Daniele developed the Divio documentation structure (tutorials-how-to-explanations-reference) which has been adopted by many projects. He has served on the Django Software Foundation board and has organized numerous conferences (like PyCon UK and PyCon Namibia).

Known online as “evildmp”, Daniele is revered for his patience in mentoring and improving docs.

Paolo Melchiorre

Nationality: Italian

Paolo is an Italian Django developer who exemplifies community passion.

He’s a backend engineer and a Django contributor, active since the late 2000s. Paolo has served as a Director of the Django Software Foundation and is a coach/organizer for Django Girls in Italy. He is also a Python Software Foundation Fellow. Paolo is known for his speaking at conferences (often sporting his trademark fedora) and for writing about Python/Django in his blog.

He works at 20tab and helps organize PyCon Italia, nurturing the next generation of Pythonistas.

Adam Johnson

Nationality: British

Adam is a Django expert known for his prolific blogging and contributions to Django’s code and ecosystem.

He is a member of Django’s Technical Board and a recipient of the 2021 Malcolm Tredinnick Prize for contributions. Adam has authored books like Speed Up Your Django Tests and Boost Your Django DX (Developer Experience), reflecting his focus on productivity and best practices. Based in London, he works as a solo consultant, helping companies improve their Django projects.

Ola Sitarska

Top 18 Django Developers You Should Know

Nationality: Polish

Ola is a co-founder of Django Girls, the global non-profit that has introduced thousands of women to Django programming.

Hailing from Poland, Ola was a self-taught developer who became a Django core contributor in her early 20s. In 2014, she and Ola Sendecka organized the first Django Girls workshop in Berlin and authored the Django Girls Tutorial. Ola later worked as an engineer at firms like Potato and as VP of Engineering at Verve.

Now more on the management track, she remains a guiding figure for the Django Girls organization and an inspiration for women in tech.

Matthew Westcott

Nationality: British

Matthew  (known as “Gasman” online) is the lead developer of Wagtail, the popular open-source Django-based CMS used by Google, Mozilla, NASA, and many others.

As Senior Engineer at Torchbox, he has guided Wagtail’s architecture from its inception. Matt is a Django core contributor as well, especially around front-end integration and migrations. He is a frequent speaker at Wagtail Space and DjangoCon events, sharing the latest advancements in CMS and Django admin customization. With a background in both back-end and creative coding (he’s a demoscene artist), Matt brings a unique perspective to Django development.

Antonio Mele

Nationality: Spanish

Antonio is the author of the widely read book Django By Example, now in its 5th edition.

As a seasoned full-stack developer and CTO, Antonio has built fintech and investment platforms. He co-founded Nucoro, a digital banking startup, and served as its CTO, guiding technical strategy and architecture. Antonio has been developing with Django since 2006 and shares his knowledge through books and speaking. His books take readers through building real-world Django apps (like an e-commerce or social website) step-by-step, reflecting his practical approach to teaching.

Raymond Penners

Nationality: Dutch

Raymond is the original author of django-allauth, the all-in-one authentication app for Django that supports both local accounts and social logins.

Created in 2010, django-allauth filled a major need for a unified auth workflow and remains a critical part of many Django projects. Raymond is a senior developer and architect (founder of IntenCT) who has focused on identity and authentication solutions. He continues to maintain allauth actively, keeping it up-to-date with the latest OAuth providers and security practices.

David Cramer

Top 18 Django Developers You Should Know

Nationality: American

David is the co-founder and CTO of Sentry, an open-source error tracking platform used by millions of developers.

Before Sentry, David was a Django engineer at Disqus, where he first built Sentry as an internal tool to log Django errors. Sentry eventually spun out as its own company (now valued at over $3B) and still has Django at its core. David’s journey highlights Django’s capability to power large-scale developer tools. He’s an active open-source contributor and has spoken about scaling Django in high-throughput environments.

Aisha Bello

Nationality: Nigerian

Aisha is a Python/Django developer and community leader whose work has significantly grown the Python and Django community in Africa.

Based in Nigeria (and recently in Canada for studies), she has co-organized numerous Django Girls workshops and Python Nigeria meetups. Aisha served as Vice Chair of the Python Nigeria Association and has been a coach and mentor for women learning Django. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences, sharing her journey and advocating for inclusivity.

Aisha’s enthusiasm for tech education and social change has made her a respected figure in the global Django community.

Wrap Up

These legends represent exceptional talent, making them extremely challenging to headhunt. However, there are thousands of other highly skilled IT professionals available to hire with our help. Contact us, and we will be happy to discuss your hiring needs.

Note: We’ve dedicated significant time and effort to creating and verifying this curated list of top talent. If you intend to share or make use of it in any way, we kindly ask that you include a backlink to the original source – EchoGlobal.

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