DSF member of the month - Öykü Gümüş

For April 2025, we welcome Öykü Gümüş as our DSF member of the month! ⭐

Öykü Gümüş has been Django developer for many years. She has been DjangoCon Europe organizer in 2018 and Django Girls mentor in Istanbul for multiple years. She has been a DSF member since November 2019.
You can learn more about Öykü by visiting Öykü's GitHub Profile.

Let’s spend some time getting to know Öykü better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc)

Hi, I am Öykü, software engineer currently based in Germany.

I studied Computer Engineering in Istanbul, and during my university years, I realised I really enjoy being part of tech communities such as Django Girls, PyLadies and etc.. And I have been trying to play an active role in such groups ever since! Apart from that, I like drawing, and currently trying to improve my illustration skills. In general, I enjoy learning new things. For example started learning cello after 25 years of age, and loving every minute of my attempts to play it. I also love cycling and hiking. Germany is offering so much in those areas and I am always looking for a chance to get on the road.

How did you start using Django?

During my university studies, I started working as a part time developer and my first ever job was with Django. Loved how versatile it was!

What other framework do you know and if there is anything you would like to have in Django if you had magical powers?

Besides Django, I’ve used Flask, which gives you more control and is great for microservices, and FastAPI, which I really like for its async capabilities and performance. If I had magical powers to add something to Django, I’d probably improve its async support to make it more seamless throughout the stack. Right now, you can work around it, but it’s not as smooth as in FastAPI, for example.

What projects are you working on now?

Lately, I’ve been diving into GraphQL—experimenting with Graphene in Django and playing around with Apollo Client on the frontend. It’s been interesting to compare it with traditional REST APIs and explore how it can streamline data fetching in more complex UIs.

Which Django libraries are your favorite (core or 3rd party)?

There are a few Django libraries I keep reaching for, both core and third-party. Core-wise, I really appreciate how solid the django.contrib.admin is. It saves so much time in early development. Also, Django’s ORM and authentication system are very well designed—I rarely need to look elsewhere unless I’m doing something super custom. For third-party libraries, a few that I really enjoy using: django-rest-framework django-allauth and graphene-django

What are the top three things in Django that you like?

The ORM, the "Batteries Included" policy and Django's amazing community ❤️

You have been mentor for DjangoGirls+ multiple times, how did you start to mentor? Do you have any recommendation for potential folks interested to mentor?

Oh yes, I met with Django Girls in Istanbul and immediately wanted to take part by mentoring and couldn't love it more! It has great atmosphere and provides such a supportive environment, that I can safely suggest everyone just at least try it once. It's amazing to see the direct impact you can make on people by simply being there. One thing anyone interested in mentoring should never forget is to always maintain an inclusive and safe space.

You were part of the DjangoCon Europe organization in 2018, what makes you volunteer for this event?

The kindness of the organisers of another conference actually. It was Europython 2017 folks, and they kindly provided me, student at the time, a financial aid to join the conference and it was my first tech conference ever! Loved it so much, that I thought I should pay it forward. 🙂

Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Thanks so much for the chat—really enjoyed it! I also just want to say how valuable communities like this are, especially for folks starting out or navigating their path. Having spaces where people can share, support, and learn from each other makes a huge difference.

Thank you for doing the interview, Öykü !