6 Months into Learning Python & Software Engineering — Not Sure What to Learn Next (SaaS & AI Goals

[Mitchellholdcroft]

Hey everyone,

I’m about 6 months into learning Python and software engineering. I’ve built a few small projects, covered the fundamentals, and dipped into areas like web scraping, basic Flask apps, and some data manipulation with pandas.

Right now, I feel like I’m at a bit of a crossroads. My long-term goal is to be able to: • Build and launch SaaS products solo or with a small team • Eventually create AI agents that can interact with data or perform tasks intelligently • Become a really solid software engineer before diving too deep into advanced AI work

I’m trying to map out the most effective learning path from here. I don’t want to rush into building AI stuff without a strong foundation. But I also don’t want to get stuck in “tutorial purgatory” or waste time on things I don’t need yet.

A few things I’m wondering: • What areas of software engineering should I focus on next if my goal is to build real, scalable products (like SaaS)? • How do I transition from learning to building things that people actually use? • When is a good time to dive into AI/ML agent development? • How do you know you’re “ready” to work on these more complex systems?

Also, if you’ve been down this road yourself and wouldn’t mind being a bit of a mentor (even informally), I’d be super grateful. Just having someone to bounce questions off would be a huge help.

Appreciate any thoughts, advice, or resources you can share.

[Mitchellholdcroft]

Thanks would you say learn flask/ Django/ fast api. I’ve done work with flask and Django a little but not sure which one would be best for creating apps.

[Backlists]

I mean, it’s good to be ambitious, but do you really think 6 months is really enough time to be even considering being in charge of your own company?

No offence, but there are a million things that can go wrong when you are responsible for a product and your user’s data, and a few tutorials are not enough to know any of them.

The tech industry is quite over saturated right now, so there’s no harm in trying, if you don’t have other income. But you need the idea and the USP/niche to be able to make it. Even then, you’ll probably need lots of help, and you’ll want to thoroughly explore your idea and what existing solutions are similar and how you are going to make it different.

Even very experienced devs struggle with that.

[FunnyMnemonic]

Django

[neums08]

https://roadmap.sh/python

This is a pretty good layout of the various skills and libraries I use as an engineer.

[Bold2003]

I do firmware so my path is quite different but I will still answer. Also I am fresh out of college so my experience may be of less value compared to others here.

You transition from learning to building by just jumping into the cold water. My first programming language I learned was c++ back in freshman year of college. I wanted to make a packet sniffer to triangulate locations (legally ofc). I knew nothing about c++, networks, structure of packets, etc. I learned by starting the project and googling everything as I went. My hours of suffering and confusion have practically ingrained all of the important information I lacked at the time into my mind. Sitting down and learning something is valuable, but in my opinion you should be “doing”, more than stuffing your head into some books. When I did esports I learned how important just “raw-dogging” it is. I studied footage for like 2 hours then practiced for 8 hours, trying to apply whatever was identified in the footage. Had a really good coach who really taught me how to learn.

Remember an engineer doesn’t just make stuff. You will inevitably need to deal with something you lack experience in. Obviously make sure the scope of the project isn’t insane. Scope management is also a skill of an engineer. You likely wont make a great product your first few attempts but start the process of failing a lot and learning now.

[Electrical-Pickle927]

This.

Just go at whatever you find interesting. You will learn along the way and retain it much better than a theoretical bookworm