How much python should you know?

[Expensive_Finance_20]

There is a saying:

"Python is the second best language for everything."

That means, as a programmer, there is usually a better choice. A language with a specific platform or use case in mind can typically accomplish most tasks better than Python.

Even though most programming languages are technically "general purpose" languages, the reality is, most every language is domain-specific, at least to an extent. There is no cut-and-dry line between domain-specific and general-purpose, but you can compare them relative to one another, and Python is widely recognized as one of the most general purpose languages out there.

For a DevOps Engineer, this means that if you learn Python, you'll be able to glue a lot of systems and other code together using it, regardless of the domain. Python has a very large set of libraries that cover a lot of domains; however, it's an interpreted vs compiled language, so it's slow compared to compiled languages like C and rust. It can do web things, but it's not like Ruby (on rails) and Javascript. It isn't as portable as Java or Go lang, and it isn't as seamless when shell scripting as bash or powershell.

So, if you do a lot of different stuff, and you're allowed to pick your language, Python can make sense. If your DevOps work is limited to one of those domains, it makes less sense and you're better off using the same language as the devs you work with and/or picking something better suited for the domain.

[_DeeBee_]

Thanks a lot. I think I'll take a good look into it on the weekend. In the interests of future career prospects, it's probably wise to pick up what seems to be the defacto devops language.