Bob and I have spent many years as Python devs, and 6 years coaching with Pybites and we can safely say that being a Senior Developer is only about 1/3 Python knowledge.
The other 60% is the ecosystem. It’s the tooling. It’s all of the tech around Python that makes you stand out from the rest.
This is the biggest blind spot keeping developers stuck in Tutorial Hell. You spend hours memorising obscure library features, but you crumble when asked to configure a CI/CD pipeline. (That’s not just made up by the way – many of you in dev roles will have seen this with colleagues at some point or another!)
These are the elements of the Python ecosystem you should absolutely be building experience with if you want to move from being a scripter to an engineer:
- Dependency Management: Stop using pip freeze. Look at uv.
- Git: Not just add/commit. Learn branching strategies and how to fix a merge conflict without panicking.
- Testing: print() is not a test. Learn pytest and how to write good tests.
- Quality Control: Set up Linters (Ruff) so you stop arguing about formatting, and ty for type checking.
- Automation: Learn GitHub Actions (CI/CD). Make the robots run your tests for you.
- Deployment: How does your code get to a server? Learn basic Docker and Cloud.
- The CLI: Stop clicking buttons and get comfortable in the terminal. Learn Makefiles and create a make install or make test command to save your sanity.
It looks like a lot. It is a lot. But this is the difference between a hobbyist and a professional.
Does this make you feel overwhelmed? Or does it give you a roadmap of what to do this year?
I’m curious! Feel free to hit me up in the Community with your thoughts.
And yes, these are all things we coach people on in PDM. Use the link below to have a chat.
Julian
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