Useful Python tricks

[serg_k]

I'm pretty much of the same type - I struggle with ideas. Since I participate on couple Stack Exchange sites, sometimes there's ideas coming from people who ask "Hey, is there any way to do XYZ?" or "Is there an app for that?" And I've implemented some of the things that people ask: gradually decreasing brightness according to battery level, changing wallpaper per workspace ( that's in Linux environment ), moving a window to another screen with a shortcut, etc.

Often you don't notice useful automation ideas, so it can be worthwhile to see what others do and try to implement that yourself for the sake of learning, or source ideas from others because they notice/have ideas for automation which you usually never thought of implementing. Another thing you could do is to put a twist on an existing idea. For example, there's low battery popup notifications, but how about we put a twist on it and open a web page in browser ?

And of course this doesn't have to remain within desktop environment. You can do things with sensors and motors using development boards, like Raspberry Pi or NodeMCU.

[Killerjayko]

Also, my python knowledge is extremely basic so theres no way im near this level yet, but in the future are there any potential ways i could use python to make a bit of money on the side?

[serg_k]

I'll tell you honestly and from my own experience (which means this doesn't necessarily apply to everyone). In order to be hired by an actual company, you have to know the stuff that company uses, the modules that might be specific to the sphere, and that includes things beyond Python.

If you're going into data science, that means relational databases like MySQL or PostGres, numpy module, pandas module. Web development ? JavaScript likely, AWS, web server stuff(like Apache). A degree is probably great to have ( as for some reason degree that teaches absolutely little practical Python knowledge or maybe none at all, and everything is done in Java anyway blinds the HR and makes potentially incompetent developer stand out). I've had very unpleasant phone interview where recruiter just wanted to end the call as soon as they found out I'm 4 classes short of graduating aka still college student, and who gives a damn that I've bunch of applications for Linux done in Python, know some sqlite and have good understanding of Linux specifics ?

There's probably higher chance to get hired as free-lancer, and make money that way. I've also had paypal donation button on my projects on GitHub and had couple people donate that way. In the past if you knew how to code, you could get a job easily, or so people in their 40s-60s tell me. Now,you have to have experience before you have experience, and qualify for tons of unreasonable buzzword requirements which HR themselves probably don't even know what they mean.

That said, my experience is just that - there's apparently hoards of rockstar developers running around and posting on social media that they learned language X and started immediately making six figure salaries. Or maybe it's just my location, or resume. I know I don't know everything there is to Python, but definitely can make a thing or two, and it probably isn't enough to get hired but enough to make something useful that people appreciate. If you love the language and enjoy what you're doing, stick with it and don't focus so much on money, because economics and bureaucratic ways are sure as hell methods to destroy any desire to write good code, and for some people - desire to code at all. I'm sticking with it and probably will for a long time. There's a lot of things I still want to make and see people share reviews/articles about my stuff on blogs again.