Hire Python Developers

Hiring Python developers through CodigoDelSur means adding senior engineers, employed by us, who write Python where it earns its place in a product: backends in Django, and machine learning and language model pipelines that run inside an application instead of in a notebook. They work in your repository and your sprints, inside the team that owns the product. CodigoDelSur has been building software from Montevideo, Uruguay since 2007, for companies in the United States and the rest of the world.

It is the right move when Python is already your backend or your model work, and what is missing is engineers who can take it to production. It is the wrong move when what you need is research, a team exploring your data with no product decision waiting at the end. We build software that runs in production, and we tell you which one you are on the first call.

Is hiring a Python developer the right move for you?

It is when Python is where your product's backend or its models live, and someone on your side reviews the code.

Yes, if:

Your backend is in Python, or in Django, and the roadmap is waiting on it.
You have a model or a pipeline that works on someone's laptop and has to run inside the product.
You want language model features grounded in your own content, not a general chatbot.
Someone on your team reviews pull requests and owns the architecture.

No, if:

What you need is exploratory analysis with no product at the end of it. That is a data science engagement, not an engineering one.
Your backend is JavaScript or TypeScript end to end. Keep one language and hire a Node.js developer.
You need an AI strategy before there is a product problem to solve. Start with the problem.

How it works, from first call to Python in production

Five steps, and the first question is where the Python has to run: a web backend, a batch job, a model behind an API. Every step ends with a person in your repository or a clear reason not to continue.

Intro call, 30 to 45 minutes. Your Python version and framework, how the code is deployed, what data it touches and which parts of the product depend on it. Who will review the work and what the first month should ship. If what you need is research rather than engineering, this is where we say so.

Written role brief. One page: the services or pipelines the engineer will own, seniority, overlap and start date. Nothing moves until you sign it off, because every profile is measured against it.

Named profiles. Bench first, and we tell you whether the Python engineer you need is on it today or has to be recruited. Each CV names the systems the person worked on and what they owned in them, not an anonymized list of skills.

You run the technical interview. Your process: a review of one of your own services or pipelines, a design conversation, a take-home. You can turn down anyone we propose without giving a reason.

First day in your repository. One standard services agreement, signed once. We handle equipment, accounts, background checks where required and payroll. The engineer joins your standup on day one, gets the service or pipeline running locally against sample data in the first days, and aims for a first merged pull request that same week.

How long it takes to add a Python developer

Five business days from signed agreement to first day as standard, and as soon as the next business day when the engineer is already on our bench.

Stage	Typical time
Intro call to written role brief	1 business day
Role brief to first profiles, if the profile is on our bench	1 business day
Role brief to first profiles, if we have to recruit	5 business days
Interviews	Your calendar, usually within a week
Signed agreement to the engineer's first day	5 business days as standard, or as soon as the next business day if the engineer is on our bench and you are ready
First day to first merged pull request	3 to 5 business days

For Python work that touches data, the first week depends on access: a sample of real data the engineer is allowed to use, and the environment it runs in. We ask for both in the role brief.

What our Python developers work on

Product backends and machine learning that ships inside an application, not in a separate research track.

Work	What it involves	Where it shipped
A product backend in Django	The backend of a social travel app taken over half built, with the bugs fixed before the missing features were added	Etch
Computer vision inside a product	A system that recognizes cows from camera footage, with detection models trained on the client's own data using YOLO and Roboflow, inside a platform farms use every day	Milc Group
Language model features with RAG	Answers grounded in a client's own content archive, with GPT-4, Ollama and retrieval-augmented generation	Visit Philly

Around Python we work with Django, AWS and Terraform, and in AI work with OpenAI APIs, RAG pipelines and computer vision. Seniority runs from mid level to tech lead, and we do not place junior engineers in these roles.

What it costs to hire a Python developer

What a Python developer costs depends on seniority and on what the role covers, and you get the number in writing with the role brief, before you commit to anything.

The minimum project size is $10,000, roughly one engineer for one month, and the shortest engagement we sign is two weeks, one sprint. There is no recruiting fee, no placement fee and no management fee, and the project manager on our side is included at no additional cost. Billing is per sprint, Net 14, or monthly if your finance team prefers, with volume discounts of 5 percent from five people and 10 percent from seven.

If you have a model that works in a notebook and not in the product, one engineer for one sprint is a real engagement and a cheap way to find out what is missing.

The Python projects behind this page

Three projects, two of them with a published case study. We list what we have shipped in Python, which is why the list is short.

Etch is a social travel platform: destinations, activities, where your friends have been, shared itineraries and saved spots. Its founders came to us with a partially built app that had to reach the App Store. We put front-end and back-end developers on it, with the backend in Python and Django on AWS, reviewed what existed, fixed the bugs before adding anything, then built the missing features, and the app was published on the App Store after five months.

Milc Group builds technology for dairy operations. Over nine years we built every software layer above its hardware, including MIRA, the platform's AI assistant, and a separate computer vision system that recognizes cows from camera footage, with YOLO for the detection models and Roboflow for the labeling and training pipeline. The hard part was fitting that system into a platform farms run on every day: the retraining loop, the behavior when the model is unsure, and the cost of inference at real volume.

Visit Philly, the destination marketing organization for Philadelphia, has a large published archive. We built a language model layer over it with GPT-4, Ollama for local model serving, and a retrieval-augmented generation pipeline that controls which content an answer may draw from. Visit Philly does not have a case study page on this site yet.

Python developers through staff augmentation, a dedicated team or full-cycle product development

Three different products get sold under the same word, "outsourcing". They are not interchangeable and picking the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in this category. Python work often starts in the first column and moves to the second once a model has to be kept alive in production.

	Staff augmentation	Dedicated team	Full-cycle product development
Who owns the roadmap	You	You	Shared, we run discovery
Who manages day to day	Your engineering manager	You, with a CodigoDelSur project manager coordinating on our side at no extra cost	Our project manager
What you get	Individual engineers inside your team	A team shaped around your product, staffed and coordinated by us	A product, from discovery to store release
You need to have	Technical leadership with spare capacity	A product owner and a clear roadmap	A budget and a problem worth solving
Python work it fits best	Services, pipelines and model integration inside a Python codebase you already run	A backend or machine learning feature owned end to end, together with the app that uses it	A new product with Python where it fits, from discovery to launch
Typical size	1 to 4 people	4 to 12 people	Scoped per project
Minimum commitment	Two weeks, one sprint	Two weeks, one sprint	Quoted per project
Best when	The work is defined and you are short on hands	You own a product area and want it staffed and coordinated as one team	You need the thing to exist and you do not have an engineering org

When this page is not your answer

Do not hire a Python developer to find out whether your data can support a model. That question comes first and has its own answer, which is why our AI development work starts with a feasibility sprint. And do not add a Python service to a product whose backend is JavaScript end to end only because a library exists in Python: a second language is one more thing to hire for, deploy and keep secure. Sometimes that is worth it, and often it is not.

Where "taking over a Python codebase" and "short-term work" fit

Neither is a fourth model. Etch is what a takeover looks like: we review the code that exists, fix what is broken and only then build what is missing, either with engineers embedded in your team through staff augmentation or with a dedicated team taking the product over. If the work is short, one engineer for one sprint, for moving a model from a notebook into a service or upgrading a Django version, is a complete engagement.

Frequently asked questions

Do your Python developers work in Django?

Yes. Etch's backend is Python and Django on AWS. We work in whatever framework your codebase already uses, and we do not propose moving it unless there is a reason you can measure.

Can you take a model from a notebook into production?

Yes, and that is the part most teams underestimate: inference cost at your volume, latency, what the product does when the model is unsure, monitoring, and a retraining loop. At Milc Group those were designed before anything shipped, because the computer vision system had to fit a platform farms depend on every day.

Should we hire a Python developer or a Node.js developer for our backend?

Keep one language unless the work pulls you toward the other. If your backend holds data processing or machine learning, Python is usually the better tool. If it is an API serving web and mobile apps and the team already writes JavaScript, a Node.js developer keeps everything in one language. We staff both, so the answer on the first call has no interest behind it.

What time zone do your engineers work in, and how much overlap will I get?

Our engineers work 10:00 to 19:00 Uruguay time, which is UTC minus 3. That covers the entire US East Coast working day, five to six hours of live overlap with the West Coast, and an afternoon overlap with Europe. The schedule is set that way deliberately: shifting the day an hour later widens the Pacific overlap without asking anyone to work nights, and it is the reason this arrangement is still working in month twelve rather than quietly falling apart in month three.

How fast can you actually start?

Five business days from signed agreement to first day is the standard, and if the engineer is already on our bench and your side is ready to receive them, they can start as soon as the next business day. What varies is finding the right person, not starting them: if the profile is on our bench you get CVs one business day after you sign off the role brief, and if the role has to be recruited, first CVs take about five business days. We tell you which of the two you are in on the first call, before you have signed anything, because that is what actually moves your start date.

What happens if the engineer is not working out?

You tell your account manager and we replace the person at our cost. There is no charge for the search and no penalty for asking. The outgoing and incoming engineers overlap for ten business days so that context, access and work in progress transfer inside the engagement instead of landing back on your team, and those ten days are not billed: during the handover you keep paying exactly what you were paying for one engineer. We would rather absorb that than have you carry a bad fit for a quarter, and a company that will not put a replacement policy in writing is telling you something.

Who owns the code and the intellectual property?

You do, exclusively. Everything created for you as part of the work is assigned to you with full title guarantee: source code, application logic, APIs, integrations, data models, configurations, UI and UX designs, documentation and any derivative works. The assignment covers the deliverables as they are created, it is not conditional on final payment, and it is not a licence back to you, it is ownership. We also warrant that what we deliver does not infringe any third party's intellectual property, and where third party material is involved we secure the consents for both sides first. For our own pre existing components that were not written specifically for you, you get a non exclusive, irrevocable, royalty free licence to use, copy and modify them, so nothing we bring with us can be used to lock you in later. Every CodigoDelSur employee signs a non disclosure agreement and an intellectual property assignment as a condition of employment. In practice we also work inside your repositories and your cloud accounts, so in most engagements the code never lives anywhere else to begin with.

Will the engineer work only for us?

A full time engineer works for one client only. If you take someone full time they are on your product and nothing else: your standups, your sprint planning, your Slack, and for practical purposes they are part of your team, with the difference that their employment, payroll and career are our responsibility. If you only need part of a person we do offer part time engineers, and a part time engineer is assigned to a maximum of two projects, never more. We tell you which of the two you are getting before you sign, because "dedicated" is a word this industry uses loosely.

Tell us where your Python runs

Tell us where your Python runs today, what depends on it and what the first month should ship, and we will tell you on the same call whether the engineer is on our bench or has to be recruited, and what that means for your start date.