DSF member of the month - Clifford Gama
For December 2025, we welcome Clifford Gama as our DSF member of the month! ⭐
Clifford contributed to Django core with more than 5 PRs merged in few months! He is part of the Triage and Review Team. He has been a DSF member since October 2024.
You can learn more about Clifford by visiting Clifford's website and his GitHub Profile.
Let’s spend some time getting to know Clifford better!
Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc)
I'm Clifford. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Zimbabwe.
How did you start using Django?
During my first year in college, I was also exploring open online courses on EDx and I came across CS50's introduction to web development. After watching the introductory lecture -- which introduced me to git and GitHub -- I discovered Django's excellent documentation and got started on the polls tutorial. The docs were so comprehensive and helpful I never felt the need to return to CS50. (I generally prefer comprehensive first-hand, written learning material over summaries and videos.)
At the time, I had already experimented with flask, but I guess mainly because I didn't know SQL and because flask didn't have an ORM, I never quite picked it up. With Django I felt like I was taking a learning fast-track where I'd learn everything I needed in one go!
And that's how I started using Django.
What projects are you working on now?
At the moment, I’ve been focusing on improving my core skills in preparation for remote work, so I haven’t been starting new projects because of that.
That said, I’ve been working on a client project involving generating large, image-heavy PDFs with WeasyPrint, where I’ve been investigating performance bottlenecks and ways to speed up generation time, which was previously around 30 minutes 😱.
What are you learning about these days?
I’ve been reading Boost Your Git DX by Adam Johnson and learning how to boost my Git and shell developer experience, which has been a great read. Aside from that, inspired by some blogs and talks by Haki Benita, I am also learning about software design and performance. Additionally, I am working on improving my general fluency in Python.
What other framework do you know and if there is anything you would like to have in Django if you had magical powers?
I am not familiar with any other frameworks, but if I had magic powers I'd add production-grade static-file serving in Django.
Django libraries are your favorite (core or 3rd party)?
The ORM, Wagtail and Django's admin.
What are the top three things in Django that you like?
- The community
- The documentation
- Djangonaut Space and the way new contributors are welcomed
How did you start contributing to Django?
I started contributing to Django in August last year, which is when I discovered the community, which was a real game changer for me. Python was my first course at university, and I loved it because it was creative and there was no limit to what I could build with it.
Whenever I saw a problem in another course that could be solved programmatically, I jumped at it. My proudest project from that time was building an NxN matrix determinant calculator after learning about recursion and spotting the opportunity in an algebra class.
After COVID lockdown, I gave programming up for a while. With more time on my hands, I found myself prioritizing programming over core courses, so I took a break. Last year, I returned to it when I faced a problem that I could only solve with Django. My goal was simply to build an app quickly and go back to being a non-programmer, but along the way I thought I found a bug in Django, filed a ticket, and ended up writing a documentation PR. That’s when I really discovered the Django community.
What attracted me most was that contributions are held to high standards, but experienced developers are always ready to help you reach them. Contributing was collaborative, pushing everyone to do their best. It was a learning opportunity too good to pass up.
How did you join the Triage and Review team?
About the time after I contributed my first PR, I started looking at open tickets to find more to work on, and keep on learning.
Sometimes a ticket was awaiting triage, in which case the first step was to triage it before assigning it to working on it, and sometimes the ticket I wanted was already taken, in which case I'd look at the PR if available. Reviewing a PR can be a faster way to learn about a particular part of the codebase, because someone has already done most of the investigative part of work, so I reviewed PRs as well.
After a while I got an invitation from Sarah Boyce, one of the fellows, to join the team. I didn't even know that I could join before I got the invitation, so I was thrilled!
How the work is going so far?
It’s been rewarding. I’ve gained familiarity with the Django codebase and real experience collaborating with others, which already exceeds what I expected when I started contributing.
One unexpected highlight was forming a friendship through one of the first PRs I reviewed.
SiHyun Lee and I are now both part of the triage and review team, and I’m grateful for that connection.
What are your hobbies or what do you do when you’re not working?
My main hobby is storytelling in a broad sense. In fact, it was a key reason I returned to programming after a long break. I enjoy discovering enduring stories from different cultures, times, and media—ranging from the deeply personal and literary to the distant and philosophical. I recently watched two Japanese classics and found I quite love them. I wrote about one of the films on my blog, and I also get to practice my Japanese, which I’ve been learning on Duolingo for about two years. I also enjoy playing speed chess.
Do you have any suggestions for people who would like to start triage and review tickets and PRs?
If there’s an issue you care about, or one that touches a part of the codebase you’re familiar with or curious about, jump in. Tickets aren’t always available to work on, but reviews always are, and they’re open to everyone. Reviewing helps PRs move faster, including your own if you have any open, sharpens your understanding of a component, and often clarifies the problem itself.
As Simon Charette puts it:
“Triaging issues and spending time understanding them is often more valuable than landing code itself as it strengthen our common understanding of the problem and allow us to build a consistent experience accross the diverse interfaces Django provides.”
And you can put it on your CV!
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I’m grateful to everyone who contributes to making every part of Django what it is. I’m particularly thankful to whoever nominated me to be the DSF Member of the month.
I am optimistic about the future of Django. Django 6.1 is already shaping up with new features, and there are new projects like Django Bolt coming up.
Happy new year 🎊!
Thank you for doing the interview, Clifford and happy new year to the Django community 💚!
