A structured, hands-on journey through 10 backend projects, designed to progressively build and deepen backend development skills using Django, Django REST Framework, and selected projects with FastAPI for asynchronous and microservice-based tasks.
This repository documents a curated sequence of backend projects developed to explore modern web development concepts in a practical, incremental way.
Each project focuses on production-style backend architecture, and includes:
- Core CRUD and RESTful logic
- Backend tests (unit and API-level)
- A minimal frontend built with HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript
- Optional stretch goals for deeper exploration or feature expansion
Projects are structured to reflect real-world systems rather than isolated examples, with an emphasis on clean code, modular design, and practical experience.
| # | Project Name | Key Features | Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Personal Blogging Platform API | Markdown, slugs, tags, authentication, filtering | Django + DRF |
| 2 | Expense Tracker API | User data, date filtering, aggregation | Django + DRF |
| 3 | URL Shortener API | Short link hashing, redirection, click tracking | Django + DRF |
| 4 | Fitness Workout Tracker | Nested models (workouts > exercises), progress tracking | Django + DRF |
| 5 | API Aggregator Microservice | Async external fetch, response merging, optional caching | FastAPI + httpx |
| 6 | Movie Reservation System | Time slots, seat logic, transactional integrity | Django + DRF |
| 7 | Job Board API | Async user roles, job search filtering, dependency injection | FastAPI + SQLModel |
| 8 | Real-Time Messaging & Polling Backend | WebSockets, Django Channels, live chat/polling modules | Django + Channels |
| 9 | Restaurant Review Platform + Sentiment | Async NLP (TextBlob/VADER), review moderation, filtering | FastAPI + NLP |
| 10 | Simple E-commerce API | Product catalog, cart/checkout, payments, order tracking | Django + DRF |
Each project resides in its own folder with documentation for setup, features, and testing.
- Python 3.12
- Django & Django REST Framework
- FastAPI (async API microservices)
- JWT Authentication
- PostgreSQL
- HTML, CSS, and Vanilla JavaScript
- RESTful API Design
- Django Testing Framework & DRF APIClient
- Django Channels and WebSocket Communication
- FastAPI with
httpxfor external async API calls - Redis Caching
- Role-Based Access Control
- Basic Sentiment Analysis (TextBlob, VADER)
- Git and Modular Code Structure
Project10X: The Backend Builder Series serves as a long-term learning track for mastering backend development through full-stack, feature-complete projects. It reflects a commitment to:
- Building real applications from the ground up
- Practicing testing, deployment readiness, and clean API design
- Exploring technologies beyond core CRUD, including async microservices, real-time communication, and basic ML integration
Each project includes:
- Clear setup instructions and environment dependencies
- A list of core features and stretch goals
- Backend tests for endpoints and logic
- A minimal frontend for interacting with and verifying API behavior
- Sample data or seeding utilities (where applicable)
This repo is open for exploration, learning, and contribution. Forks, pull requests, and suggestions are welcome.
This repository is open source under the MIT License.
Created and maintained by RM Villa.