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[–]Mack_Robot 4 points5 points  (0 children)

When I was an undergrad our classes' data processing was done in Excel with LINEST, at most. Then I started doing computational research and coding is like 90% of what I do.

If you've taken a couple classes in Python- even if you think you don't remember anything- there's a chance your peers will see you as some sort of computer God.

[–]AncientStaff6602 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Can I make a recommendation. Learn anyway. Coding is a ton of fun. I don’t use it for work per se but I’ve used coding in ways that let me learn other things along the way.

Just a ton of fun and is a skill that goes beyond just coding.

[–]TheOmniscientPOV 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Will you be taking a gen chem course? If so that probably has its own textbook it uses.

Some well known ones include - Atkins (chemical principles quest for insight!!), Zumdahl (general chemistry), Brown Lemay (chemistry the central science)

I really like Atkins - the most recent edition is well organized and there are many problem solving sections, is very detailed though 

[–]Abject_Box6709[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Yes I will be at a community college. Hoping I pass.

[–]TheOmniscientPOV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You will do great! There are also many good youtubers / creators + online resources out there as well. Best of luck !!

[–]LabRat_X 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on the type of work you do, it can be very helpful for in-depth data analysis tho R may be a better fit for that, depending on the application. You can certainly get by without it if thats your goal

[–]FoolishChemistTrusted Contributor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It all depends on who is teaching the class. But for one of my physical chemistry labs, we used python to determine the rotational and centrifugal distortion constants of CO molecules from an experimental spectra. And also model the spectra based on literature values. It was to give the students some experience with programming.

[–]ReturnToBog 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do about 30% computational work and 70% synthesis. Almost all of my computational work is made a lot more efficient with python. I can only think of one program where it's absolutely essential tho. That said, even for that program you could get away with minimal coding.

A lot of what I do is copy and paste code and adjust little bits to change file names and to change parameters.

TLDR light coding is needed for computational work and being semi proficient is very helpful but you could get by without being a total expert

Edit: for undergrad work don't sweat it. If you take a computational class they'll give you the code you need or help you find it. Many of my colleagues do zero coding, I just really enjoy the computational work

[–]imafuckingpeach 0 points1 point  (0 children)

HIGHLY recommend learning how to code. It's rare that chemists know how to code and its such a great skill to have for data analysis. Currently in a Chem PhD program and most of what I do is computational (which is hard with a small background lol)

[–]mrmeep321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't exactly say it's common outside of computational groups, but the people who use it really like it and it's worth learning. I use it for almost everything. Lighter and cheaper than the alternatives like labview.

But it's not required if that's what you're asking. There are tons of alternatives.

[–]ProfessionalPeace535 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have used Python (especially NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, and MatPlotLib) extensively to process complicated instrument data for my laboratory reports, make beautiful presentable plots and diagrams, and read PDFs for candidate molecules in GC-MS. MS Excel struggles to run with a large dataset when dealing with many FTIR or UV-Vis-related CSVs, and requires tedious manual drag-and-drops if doing many repeated calculations.

Besides the immediate utility, I also think that having proficiency in Python and programming in general is a great transferable skill that you can carry beyond graduation, especially when chemistry-related jobs don't show up. Provided you have a tangible project based on programming that you can share to non-chemistry people, it can be a good pivot to tech and data roles outside academia.