[FpUser]

I do some consulting as well. Same thing, total python on back-end servers. All young programmers, some calling themselves pythonistas. Many actively support green movement to the point of wearing "green" labeled clothes. I loved their reaction when I showed them a table outlining energy consumption of python vs C (75 times difference).

[mixmastamyk]

Most services are IO bound, not CPU bound. For the later, there is Cython and C, as you mention.