About Django hands-on workshop

Django can feel intimidating for newcomers. But once you understand its structure, lifecycle, and flow, it becomes one of the most powerful tools in a Python developer’s arsenal.

In this workshop, we’ll demystify Django by guiding you through building a functional web service from scratch. You’ll learn how its components fit together, how to configure settings, and how to hook into middleware - all before we dive into APIs.

This is a fully hands-on session. You’ll set up a project, create and test API endpoints with cURL and Postman, and connect them to a prebuilt frontend so you can see your work in action immediately. After lunch, we’ll explore Django REST Framework (DRF) to understand how it extends Django for APIs, touch on database integration, and look at basic deployment strategies.

Agenda: Using Django for Web Services (6 hours)

• Introduction & Setup
  Overview of Django, web frameworks, and the difference between Django and DRF.
  Setting up your environment with uv and creating a new Django project.

• Django Fundamentals
  Understanding Django’s architecture and file structure.
  Creating your first app, working with URLs, views, and minimal templates (backend-focused).

• Understanding Django’s Lifecycle
  How Django processes a request from start to finish.
  The role of settings.py, middleware, and installed apps.
  Writing a simple custom middleware to log or modify request/response data so you can see exactly how it flows through the system.
  Why learning this before touching DRF gives you a deeper, framework-level understanding of Django’s internals.

• Short Break

• Building API Endpoints
  Returning JSON responses from Django views.
  Writing simple endpoints without DRF.

• Testing Your API
  Using cURL and Postman to verify your endpoints.

• Connecting to a Prebuilt UI
  Integrating a prepared frontend to consume your API responses in real time.

• Lunch Break

• Introduction to DRF
  Installing DRF, creating serializers, and building an API endpoint with it.
  How DRF integrates into existing Django apps.

• Database Basics
  Setting up a model, running migrations, and adding sample data.
  Querying data in views (minimal ORM usage).

• Deployment Basics
  Running Django with Docker for development.
  Environment variables and configuration essentials.

Q&A + Wrap Up (30 minutes)

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with Python basics
• Python installed and uv set up (instructions here)
• Laptop running Linux or macOS (Docker supported; Windows can try to follow along)
• You must have permission to install software
• A personal Github account
  • Before the workshop, send me your ID so I can add you to the
    repo
    for access. This is necessary because we will be using gitter
    for the group chat during the workshop, and for sharing links.
  • Some familiarity to git is useful, but not required. If you’re
    interested here is a good
    intro to both Git and Github

Target Audience

• Python programmers curious about web development
• Developers new to Django who want to understand its structure and workflow
• Developers who have used Flask or FastAPI and want to learn Django.

Slides

WIP

Exercises

WIP

About the Trainer

Vinay Keerthi is a self-taught developer who has spent the past decade building tools and systems across the software stack—from internal developer tools to large-scale data systems. He has worked at companies like Flipkart, Visa, and ChainSafe and has taught programming to developers, analysts, and tech-curious folks alike.

A firm believer in empowering beginners, Vinay uses ChatGPT and other modern tools to make learning programming more accessible and less intimidating.

Contact details

For inquiries and bulk bookings, contact Hasgeek on +91-7676332020 or email info@hasgeek.com