Newsletter Archive

`pip install --only-deps` is a small-looking change with big implications for backend teams, Docker builds, and production hygiene. Expected in pip 26.2, it lets teams install a project's runtime dependencies from `pyproject.toml` without installing the application package itself — the workflow FastAPI services, Django backends, worker services, data jobs, REST APIs, and AI product backends have needed for years. Cleaner Docker pattern: copy `pyproject.toml`, install deps in a cached layer, then copy application code — faster builds, better caching, easier debugging. pip and uv are converging on practical application workflows (uv already supports `uv sync --no-install-project`). Modern Python stacks want `pyproject.toml` at the centre, lockfiles for reproducibility, dependency-only installs, deliberate Docker layering, supply-chain awareness, and clear separation between runtime, dev, and build dependencies. Candidate playbook: separate dependency install from app code in Docker, pin or lock deps, match CI to production, add a README section 'How this project is deployed'. Hiring manager playbook: ask about Dockerfile structure for FastAPI, avoiding reinstall on every code change, private packages, build vs runtime deps, dependency upgrade review, transitive upgrade surprises. Even AI startups still need boring backend discipline. Quick Python watch: pip 26.2 expected to add `--only-deps`; FastAPI 0.140.0 (24 July — memory work in dependencies); uv 0.11.31/0.11.32 (resolution perf + rejecting source distributions/wheels with mismatched package names); Python 3.15.0 beta 4 remains the final planned beta; Ruff 0.16.0. Job of the Week: Senior and Staff Product Engineers at a profitable Series A AI startup in New York, $250k–$300k base + equity + potential sign-on, 5 days onsite.

Naming, type coverage, secure upgrades, and the quiet engineering habits that separate strong developers from fast ones. Readable code is easier to review, test, onboard into, debug, and maintain. Naming isn't cosmetic — the wider the scope, the clearer the name should be. Type hints should clarify intent at boundaries. Type coverage is emerging as a team metric. Version discipline: supported Pythons, EOL, upgrade calendar, CI against current + target, rollback plans. Dependency security: lockfiles, pinned deps, vulnerability scanning, least-privilege secrets. Candidate playbook: FastAPI/Django + Postgres + typed models + service layer + tests + CI + Ruff + type checking + lockfile + structured logging + README 'Maintainability decisions'. Quick Python watch: Python 3.15.0 beta 4 (18 July), FastAPI 0.139.1/0.139.2 (16 July), uv 0.11.29, Ruff 0.15.22. Job of the Week: AI Engineers and Software Engineers, seed-stage London AI startup (Series A imminent), £100k–£250k base + equity + performance bonus, 5 days onsite.

Why the best Python engineers borrow habits from Go, Rust, TypeScript, C, and functional programming. Python is still one of the best languages for backend, AI, automation, data, and product engineering — but only ever writing Python makes you blind to its trade-offs. Go teaches explicitness and visible failure paths. Rust teaches ownership, data flow, and immutability at boundaries. TypeScript makes typed request/response contracts feel unavoidable. C teaches runtime behaviour and profile-before-optimise judgement. Functional programming pushes pure business logic away from I/O. Better habits: visible failure paths, narrow exception handling, typed models at boundaries, pure logic separated from I/O, profile-before-optimise judgement. Quick Python watch: Django 6.0.7/5.2.16 security releases (7 July), uv hardened ZIP handling (7 July), FastAPI CLI 0.0.29 (8 July). Job of the Week: 8 x Backend Engineering Hires, London YC Series A startup, up to £140k base + equity, 5 days onsite.

AI can write FastAPI quickly, but keeping service layers, schemas, and database logic clean is now the real skill. Practical checklist: thin route handlers, separate Pydantic API schemas from SQLAlchemy persistence and domain/service objects, hide DB access behind clear repositories, constrain AI to local changes with small diffs, add architecture rules to your repo, review structure not just correctness. Hiring signal: hand candidates a messy FastAPI endpoint and ask them to restructure it. Releases: FastAPI 0.139.0 (1 July), FastAPI 0.138.2 (29 June), uv hardened tar handling. Job of the Week: Full Stack AI Product Engineer at a Y Combinator-backed AI FinTech in central London, £100k–£200k base + equity, 5 days onsite.

What Python developers are actively debating across r/Python: type checkers, task queues, AI 'slop PRs', and backend projects that prove real ability. Modern Python hiring is less about framework trivia and more about engineering hygiene. The type-checker debate (Ruff + Ty, Ruff + Pyrefly, Pyright, mypy) is a judgement test. AI-generated PRs are creating a maintainer problem; teams need repo guardrails (contribution guidelines, small PRs, CI, Ruff, type checking, pytest, dependency scanning, AI-contribution rules). Task queues are where backend reality shows up: Celery, RQ, Dramatiq, APScheduler, Taskiq, FastStream. Backend projects should look like real work: payments ledger-lite, recruiting pipeline tracker, AI document workflow, data quality monitor, support workflow automation. Releases: FastAPI 0.138.1/0.138.2, Ruff 0.15.19/0.15.20, Python 3.14.6 and 3.13.14. Job of the Week: Senior and Lead Python Developers, AI x Electronics, London, up to £130k base + equity, 2 days in office + 5 weeks/year remote from anywhere.

AI can generate code faster than teams can safely review it, and that is changing hiring. A longitudinal study on AI coding assistants: 82% of developers report spending less time writing code, 84% still report productivity gains, but the share reporting worsened developer experience rose from 14% to 27% as work shifted from creation toward verification, correction, and supervision — the 'botsitting' problem. Strong AI-assisted workflow: frame the task yourself, ask AI for options not answers, keep diffs small, verify aggressively, write a 5-line handover note. Lloyds plans to hire 300 AI specialists by September joining a 1,000-person AI team. Releases: FastAPI 0.137.1, 0.137.2, and 0.138.0, uv 0.11.23, Ruff weekly. Malicious PyPI detection paper: 96.7% precision, 99.6% recall, 98.1% F1. Job of the Week: Product Engineer / MTS at an AI for FinTech startup ($15m Series A, Y Combinator-backed), 8 hires, London 5 days onsite + visa sponsorship.

How a 7-day placement beat the market average, and why remote options still move senior Python hiring. Josh placed a fully remote Senior Python Developer (payments) from first interview to accepted offer in 7 days. KPMG/REC: UK permanent placements falling at the fastest rate in 10 months; temp billings up at the fastest rate in 3+ years. Reuters: UK summer vacancies down 31% YoY. Ashby 2026: avg technical time-to-hire ~48 days; remote startup roles +9% offer acceptance, remote technical +13%. Gartner: ~20% drop out over location flex, 25% over hours. Indeed: 62% lose interest after 2 weeks of silence. Releases: FastAPI 0.137.0/0.137.1, Python 3.14.6 and 3.13.14, Python 3.15.0b2. Job of the Week: Software & AI Engineers, seed-funded AI startup, ~$30m Series A imminent, London onsite, £100k–£250k base + equity.

UK hiring slowed again, temp work is rising, and teams are quietly filtering for engineers who can ship fixes safely. KPMG/REC: UK permanent placements fell at the fastest pace since July 2025. Indeed Hiring Lab: UK postings stable but 29% below pre-pandemic. UK government announced a £1.1bn AI infrastructure plan (national supercomputer + semiconductor support). PhysicsX raised $300m at $2.4bn. The hiring insight: reliability is the silent filter — screen for how candidates handle a framework security advisory and rollout. Releases: Django 6.0.6 and 5.2.15 (5 security fixes, June 3), Python 3.15.0b2 (June 2), uv latest (June 3), Ruff 0.15.16 (June 4). Job of the Week: 8-hire strike team, AI for finance Series A + YC, London onsite, £100k–£200k base + equity.

AI hiring is no longer just AI labs and Big Tech — it's spilling into consultancies, airlines, and hardware, and they all need strong Python builders. BCG plans to hire 800 engineers, data scientists, and PMs in 2026 for BCG X (Financial News). American Airlines is doubling its Hyderabad tech hub to ~800 by early 2027 (Reuters). A 'fluid circuit board' prototype claims sub-minute physical rewiring (Tom's Hardware); CircuitHub raised $28M. The Pragmatic Engineer: UK and US software engineering recruitment trending up YoY. Releases: Ruff 0.15.15, uv 0.11.17, FastAPI 0.136.3.

Why the best recruiters act like a filter, a matchmaker, and a process manager — with data to prove why it matters. Ashby 2026: 300+ applications per hire in 2025, ~291 per recruiter. Gartner (UK): ~20% discontinue over location flexibility, 25% over hours. LinkedIn 2026: applicants 3.6x more likely to get hired via an employee connection. CIPD 2024: 51% of UK employers use agencies. A 10-minute brief template. Releases: Ruff 0.15.14, uv 0.11.16, FastAPI 0.136.3, OTel FastAPI/Django 0.63b1.

Agentic AI has moved from demo to production. UK LangChain permanent job ads jumped 18→144 in 6 months. The 5 Python tools to prioritise: LangGraph 1.2.0, LlamaIndex 0.14.22, PydanticAI 1.97.0, DSPy 3.2.1, MCP. Plus Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0. Releases: Ruff 0.15.13, uv 0.11.14.

Companies are shifting from "no tools" to "human-led, AI-assisted" engineering hiring. Google pilots AI-allowed interviews scoring "AI fluency". A scoring rubric and the 5-step approach for developers. Plus Python 3.15.0b1, 3.14.5 incremental GC revert, PEP 772 packaging council.

Candidates aren't picky — they're protecting their time. Greenhouse: 63% interviewed by AI, 30% walked away; 61% have been ghosted. StandOut CV: 34.4% of UK listings are ghost jobs. A playbook: publish stages, 5-day SLAs, pay or shrink take-homes, disclose AI.

Remote and hybrid are conversion levers. Robert Half 2026: only 16% prefer fully in-office, 55% rank hybrid #1. FlexJobs: 85% say remote is the top factor to apply. A "choose your cadence" playbook. Plus: uv 0.11.8, Ruff 0.15.12, FastAPI 0.136.1, Django 6.0.4.

AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and applied AI are pulling budget. $600B+ data centre spend forecast for 2026. AI engineer tops LinkedIn UK Jobs on the Rise. Three Python wedges: systems, infra, applied AI. Plus: FastAPI 0.136.0, Ruff 0.15.11, uv 0.11.7, Pydantic 2.13.3.

Base salary growth cooled to +1.6% in 2025 after +8.5% the year before. Promotions drive 22.3% median increases vs. 5% annual reviews. Startup equity grants are ~50% smaller than 2022. How compensation shifts by stage from pre-seed to Big Tech.

Some developers are waiting 3+ months. Others are collecting offers. UK postings 27% below pre-pandemic but 67,000+ software engineering openings — highest in 3+ years. AI job mentions 127% above baseline. The hiring bar is rising: productivity over headcount, AI expectations spreading, and applicant volume driving selectivity. Seven practical steps to increase offer odds. Plus: FastAPI 0.135.3, uv 0.11.3, Ruff 0.15.9.

Why hiring speed decides outcomes. 62% lose interest in two weeks. A speed playbook with SLAs per stage. Plus: FastAPI 0.135.2, Ruff 0.15.7, uv 0.10.12, Python 3.15 JIT progress.

PEP 723 + uv for self-contained scripts. O*NET as a fast role scorecard generator. Plus: Python 3.12.13, 3.11.15, 3.10.20 security releases, Ruff 0.15.5, uv 0.10.9.

OpenAI's Frontier Alliance, Anthropic's enterprise plug-ins, Thomson Reuters hitting 1M users, and $110B at $840B valuation. FDE roles grew 42-fold since 2023.

Regulated, document-heavy industries are growing headcount while rolling out GenAI. UK hiring is cautious (19% below pre-pandemic), but legal added 5,500 US jobs in Jan 2026. 61% of UK lawyers now use GenAI at work. A 40-minute screen for "regulated AI" engineers.

GitHub added 36M+ developers in 2025, now at 180M+ total. Python is #2 with ~2.6M contributors (+48% YoY). 1.1M+ repos import an LLM SDK (+178% YoY). The differentiator is typed, testable Python that survives production.

Over 20 people tried Monty during the 48-hour beta. Global AI funding hit $225.8B. UK startups raised $23.6B. What hiring managers want: strong Python plus AI fluency, production-grade comms, and platform instincts.

Voice-driven practice for Python interviews, backed by data. Realistic prompts, strict timing, and a rubric you can improve against. 48-hour beta open for feedback.

The big refresh for 2026. New salary data, expanded regional coverage, and what's coming next for the newsletter.

What's changing in Python hiring this year. AI integration roles, the FastAPI surge, and where salaries are heading.

Predictions for the Python job market in 2026. Which skills will be hot, salary expectations, and interview trends.

Retrospective on Python hiring in 2025. What changed, what stayed the same, and lessons for next year.

Candid thoughts on salary negotiation, counter-offers, and when to walk away from a job offer.

Modern Python tooling that saves developer time. Ruff, uv, and when to upgrade your stack for productivity.

Python's continued dominance in developer surveys and job markets. Why it's not going anywhere.