diff --git a/requirements/README.md b/requirements/README.md
index ab694dfbe30b..cfcecbb0931f 100644
--- a/requirements/README.md
+++ b/requirements/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ then run the script:
 
 `./updater.sh`
 
+NOTE: `./updater.sh` uses /usr/bin/python3.6, to match the current python version
+(3.6) used to build releases.
+
 #### Upgrading Unpinned Dependency
 
 If you require a new version of a dependency that does not have a pinned version
diff --git a/requirements/updater.sh b/requirements/updater.sh
index d184cf87962b..2911aaf0083e 100755
--- a/requirements/updater.sh
+++ b/requirements/updater.sh
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ _cleanup() {
 generate_requirements() {
   venv="`pwd`/venv"
   echo $venv
-  /usr/bin/python3 -m venv "${venv}"
+  /usr/bin/python3.6 -m venv "${venv}"
   # shellcheck disable=SC1090
   source ${venv}/bin/activate
 
-  ${venv}/bin/python3 -m pip install -U pip pip-tools
+  ${venv}/bin/python3.6 -m pip install -U pip pip-tools
 
   ${pip_compile} --output-file requirements.txt "${requirements_in}" "${requirements_git}"
   # consider the git requirements for purposes of resolving deps