I recently launched RemotePython.com, a job board specifically for remote Python jobs. I aimed to release it on January 1 and was actually able to make it in time. There were a few minor last minute bugs I had to fix before the launch, but overall it went pretty well.

I started the project as I'm a freelance Python developer who can only work remotely due to my "digital nomad" lifestyle and constantly check different job sites for remote Python gigs. I thought it would be nice if there's a site that only posts remote Python jobs as that's all I'm interested in. I figured I'm probably not alone.

Before starting actual development, I put up a Reddit ad targeting Python-related subreddits which goes to a landing page asking for email addresses of those who are interested. My target was 100 email addresses and once I hit that mark in late November 2016, I began coding.

I kept track of the time I've spent developing and my time tracker shows around 85 hours of development time, starting from the initial project set up all the way to production deployment. Not bad for a full web app. This is just the initial release of course and I'll be putting in a lot more time going forward. It's good to know, though, that I can build and launch an MVP in roughly 2 weeks of full-time development. It's important to note that I've launched many Django projects before, so I was able to re-use a lot of the code and processes from previous projects.

Before the product launch, I was able to collect around 220 email addresses (spent just less than $13 on Reddit ads). I sent my launch email in batches, starting with a test email to myself and increased the batch size from there. The open rate was around 50%, and at the time of this writing, I've gotten 26 signups so far.

I also wanted to build a community of remote Python developers using Slack, so I added a "P.S." in the launch email to let me know if they're interested in the Slack community so I can send them an invite when it's ready. I've only gotten 5 inquiries so far. But even with this small number I'll most likely still start it as it's very easy to start one. I plan to have job feeds sent to the Slack channel as well and maybe build an API so we can use slash commands to search remotepython.com's database directly from Slack.

I'm really enjoying this project, a big part of it is because I use it myself and I get to connect with fellow Python developers. Reading the developer profiles is also fun and a good way to learn more about the Python ecosystem and what kinds of projects other Python developers are working on. Even the process of going through job postings is also interesting, as that gives me a good picture of the common technology stack companies use and how they use them.

I don't know if this project will actually gain any traction in the future, but so far things seem to be moving pretty well. I'm still working on the marketing and have a few ideas to try in the upcoming weeks.