Learning Django is like trying to juggle while riding a unicycle 🪄🚴—fun, powerful, but also full of face-plant moments if you don’t know what you’re doing. Django is famous for its “batteries included” approach, but beginners often get tangled up in silly mistakes that can waste hours (or even days).

Let’s walk through the 10 most common Django mistakes beginners make—and how you can fix them before your app turns into spaghetti code 🍝.

1. ❌ Forgetting to Run Migrations

The Mistake: You add a new field in your models.py and then scream when Django yells “no such column”.

Fix:

• Run:

 python manage.py makemigrations python manage.py migrate 

• Remember: “Model changes = migration changes.” Treat it like brushing your teeth 🪥—skip it and things start rotting fast.

2. ❌ Hardcoding Secrets in Code

The Mistake: Putting SECRET_KEY = "supersecret123" directly in settings.py. (Hackers love you ❤️).

Fix:

• Use environment variables with python-decouple or django-environ. Example:

 from decouple import config SECRET_KEY = config("SECRET_KEY") 

• Keep secrets secret, not on GitHub.

3. ❌ Using DEBUG = True in Production

The Mistake: Deploying with DEBUG=True and accidentally leaking sensitive info. 🚨

Fix:

• Always set:

 DEBUG = False ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['yourdomain.com'] 

• For local dev, use .env files to switch settings easily.

4. ❌ Poor Project Structure

The Mistake: Throwing everything into one views.py and making a 2,000-line monster.

Fix:

• Split views into multiple files (views_auth.py, views_api.py).
• Use Django’s apps wisely—don’t dump everything into one giant app.

5. ❌ Not Using Virtual Environments

The Mistake: Installing Django globally and crying when version conflicts break things.

Fix:

• Always create a virtual environment:

 python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate 

• Use pip freeze > requirements.txt to lock dependencies.

6. ❌ Querying Inside Loops (N+1 Problem)

The Mistake: Writing something like:

for user in User.objects.all(): print(user.profile.address) 

This makes hundreds of queries 😭.

Fix:

• Use select_related or prefetch_related:

 users = User.objects.select_related("profile") 

7. ❌ Ignoring Django Admin Customization

The Mistake: Using the default admin without customizing—ending up with a cluttered mess.

Fix:

• Add list_display, search_fields, and list_filter:

 @admin.register(User) class UserAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin): list_display = ("username", "email", "is_staff") search_fields = ("username", "email") 

8. ❌ Mixing Business Logic in Views

The Mistake: Putting heavy calculations and data manipulation in views.

Fix:

• Keep views thin, models fat.
• Push logic into model methods or services. Example:

 class Order(models.Model): ... def total_price(self): return sum(item.price for item in self.items.all()) 

9. ❌ Forgetting Static & Media Setup

The Mistake: “Why aren’t my images loading?” 😩

Fix:

• Configure in settings.py:

 STATIC_URL = '/static/' MEDIA_URL = '/media/' MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'media' 

• Don’t forget to serve media in development:

 urlpatterns += static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT) 

10. ❌ Not Writing Tests

The Mistake: Relying on “manual testing” by refreshing the browser 57 times.

Fix:

• Write unit tests with Django’s built-in test framework:

 from django.test import TestCase class UserTest(TestCase): def test_str(self): user = User(username="azeem") self.assertEqual(str(user), "azeem") 

• Run:

 python manage.py test 

🎯 Final Thoughts

Every Django beginner makes these mistakes—it’s almost a rite of passage. But the faster you learn to avoid them, the faster you’ll move from “Why won’t this run?!” 🤯 to “Wow, I just built a production-ready app 🚀.”

Keep this list bookmarked, and next time Django throws an error, check—you might just be making one of these classic blunders.