Automate Django Deployments at PyOhio 2025

Modernizing your deployment pipeline shouldn’t be a gamble — but for many teams, it still is. At PyOhio 2025, Calvin Hendryx-Parker, CTO of Six Feet Up, delivered a roadmap for making Django deployments predictable, scalable, and stress-free using GitOps, Kubernetes, and open source tools.

“You shouldn't have to be a Kubernetes expert to deploy software with confidence,” said Calvin.

A longtime Python community leader and AWS Hero, Calvin returned to PyOhio, which he first attended in 2008, to present “Deploy Django: GitOps & Kubernetes Made Easy.” His message: Deployment doesn’t have to be painful. With the right tools and mindset, teams can ship confidently — from day one through day two and beyond.

Why Deployments Still Fail

Teams often face:

• Misconfigured environments
• Manual rollbacks and inconsistent workflows
• Last-minute deployment fire drills

Calvin reframed these as avoidable — with the right automation and tooling in place from the start. He introduced the concept of Day Zero DevOps: building observability, deployment confidence, and automation into your pipeline before the first release.

A Live Demo with Real-World Tools

Calvin didn’t just talk about solving the problem — he demonstrated it in real time.

In just 30 minutes, he:

• Bootstrapped a full-stack Django app with Six Feet Up’s open source tool Scaf™
• Deployed it to AWS using GitHub Actions
• Monitored and managed the deployment with Argo CD

The pipeline also handled:

• TLS certificate setup
• Secrets management with Sealed Secrets
• Consistent environments across dev, staging, and prod
• CI/CD rollback support — no server access required

Takeaway: Teams don’t need a large DevOps investment to deploy securely and at scale.

How to Scale Delivery — Without the Stress

If you're leading a dev team or evaluating delivery workflows, Calvin’s playbook offers a practical answer to a common question: How can we ship faster without sacrificing reliability, security, or control?

Key principles from Calvin’s talk:

• Day Zero automation: Bake in deployment pipelines from the start.
• GitOps for observability: Every deploy becomes a traceable, version-controlled event.
• Kubernetes as a platform: Cloud-agnostic, scalable infrastructure.
• Tooling that scales: The same workflows work for startups and enterprise teams alike.

“Deployment shouldn’t be scary,” Calvin said. “With the right system, every developer should be able to ship confidently.”

Watch Calvin's PyOhio Talk

Curious how GitOps and Kubernetes can streamline Django deployments? Watch Calvin’s full PyOhio talk and follow along with the slides:

Ready to Fix Your Deployments?

Six Feet Up partners with organizations across industries to implement scalable, secure deployment systems using Python, AI, and cloud-native technologies. If you’re facing slow rollouts, inconsistent deploys, or DevOps fatigue, Calvin’s playbook may be the solution.

Read more about Six Feet Up’s Django expertise.