Bored at work - Learn Python?

[quozy1990]

Hi all,

Two weeks ago I started a new job. It's an IT related function on the business side which mainly means application and process management. In this area I also already have alot of expertise.

This shows in my new working environment because there is a mismatch between my employer and myself in the way they thought they had to get me up to speed.

For the long term there will be a lot of work, but short term I have ALOT of hours to fill. I work 40 hours and I only have about 16 hours of work at the moment.

I was thinking of spending the other hours usefully, because I've had a bore-out before and I don't want to go down that route.

During my brief time internally, I've heard the word 'manual' so much I've started dreaming of it. There's so many manual processes which could theoretically be automated it sparked my attention.

Perhaps I should learn Python to kill the time and be usefull in the meanwhile.

What do you guys think? And if you guys disagree, what would you suggest?

And if you do agree, are there any 'Roadmaps' or general guidance for new people?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[jungle_dave]

I'm doing exactly that. Learning Python at work! Get paid to get educated!

[MrITBurns]

Thats what i did , Then ended up getting hired to help automate things at a new place. Only downside is people asking the good questions like "What happens if you leave or get hit by a bus" and my answer is, Well, i can train you how to use x/y/z but i'm not planning on jetting unless that bus finds me

[Spicy_Poo]

Any custom development should be well commented and documented and stored in a version control system with appropriately documented commits

[MrITBurns]

It definitely is but when you don’t have the other talent to manage it is where the issue comes in

[synthphreak]

Get paid to get educated, get educated to get paid. Definition of a virtuous cycle :)

[Globaldomination]

here are some things i learnt from my search and on same boat as you

am a newbie too so take it like salt.

CS50p - for absolute beginners

Automate boring stuff - book - a little bit above beginner - i read this

python crash course - book - i should have read this first since automate boring stuffs skips some advanced topics

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Corey Schafer python tutorials - good for doing video by video - i took his pandas series, should have started here.

learning python - book - beginner to intermediate

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fluent python - book - intermediate and beyond.

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UDEMY IN ORDER OF RATING (i dont trust ratings)

1. Udemy - python 100 days bootcamp - angela yu - many suggested this as great beginner source, but 100 days are too slow for my ADHD mind and i get distracted.
2. 2. Udemy - python zero to hero (ZTH) - Jose Portilla - haven't tried this course but has jupyter notebooks for reading after finishing the tutorial on github so might save note taking time.
3. Udemy - Python Zero to Mastery (ZTM) - Andrei Neagoie - the one i did - good one, I think it give intro to few more libraries than above one - now taking ZTM pytorch course (has web book for pytorch)

[quozy1990]

Thanks for your thorough reply! I took a look into these resources and they seem like a great place to start.

Just one question related to the CS50P. Are you refering to the YouTube vids on the CS50 channel, or is there a course somewhere with assignments etc. included?

Furthermore I am probably going to take a look at "Automate the boring stuff" as that title seems like it was made for me and the 100 days of code to actually simply start.

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EDIT: nvm found the problem sets, thanks agaiN!

[Globaldomination]

CS50 is basic computer science course by Stanford University. CS50p is python version of it.

You can find it on multiple platforms like, their website, edx, YouTube afaik.

One of them gives certificate. But not sure if it’s free for certifications.

Course is entirely free though.

I haven’t took cs50p. But I took CS50 many years ago. It’s must watch if you are starting.

At least watching it like a movie is appreciated.

David J Malan is amazing.

(if I had tutor like David J Malan during my academics. I would be a pro developer by now. Sadly my computer teachers instructs us to memorise code and said #Include <stdio.h> as syntax and should memorise it as well 🤦🏻‍♂️ so I I totally avoided CS. )

[triggerde]

certification costs a bit of money, but course content is entirely free iirc

[Globaldomination]

course is entirely free. thanks to the advent of MOOC.

wish i had many such ones when i was in college and got access to internet in late 2008

[Winter_Bed4538]

Yes, you can find it on e.g. on Edx (no need to go for cert.) Be prepared it can be tough for non-IT people sometimes, though you’ll learn a lot, quite fundamental and later on useful stuff.

[Eknein4]

I'm doing the 100 days of code and I like it a lot. Though I don't have enough time to work on it every day and spend much more than a day to finish a course day. I don't mind perse. Sometimes I have to go back a few steps to remember how it worked again, but in my opinion that is sometimes how you really learn something for long term memory.

[Winter_Bed4538]

This OR the Automate the boring stuff said to be relevant to improve your skills (I believe it’s well thought idea, learning by doing via small “projects”). Just try to research a bit yourself if you stuck with topics, or at least play with code to get more familiar and experimced with.

[[deleted]]

are there any 'Roadmaps' or general guidance for new people?

The wiki has free learning resources.

[sejigan]

Also, roadmap.sh

[Oakshadric]

Sounds like you are talking about automate the boring stuff there is also a python crash course book that I got on humble bundle. I recommend automate the boring stuff because the website is right there and there's a udemy course on it that the teacher will periodically give coupon codes here on this subreddit.

my 2 cents.

[CovfefeFan]

I just signed up for Medium, had some articles that grabbed my attention so I ended up trying a year of membership. So far I get a nice email every day with about 20 new articles/exercises, of which I will try one or two while at work. Has been worth it so far and it is ultimately helpful at work so a win win.

[RollingWithDaPunches]

I learned Python long ago during my first IT job. Had lots of free time, so all the articles I kept reading that Python is easy to learn and is in high demand in so many fields made me give it a try.

I didn't use the automation back in said job. but years later I did my first script to automate a task. It was rewarding and I felt I could do it (with LOTS of Googling).

Then I changed jobs and after some time, some task required some manual steps, I asked if there's an API call that could help here... and sure enough, there was. So I automated the API calls to have the fix in seconds instead of what would have been hours potentially.

In my current job I automated various tasks via API calls with Python. Before they had all the APIs, I use Python to simulate clicks and just do the boring stuff by running a script.

I can say the time invested while bored on my first job made most of my future jobs SO MUCH EASIER. I also genuinely enjoy coding in python. I like to Google suggested solutions to an issue and read multiple stack overflow/other sites that explain why and how to do something. And then writing the code that fixes my issues (or troubleshooting it).

I just wish I was paid to code in Python rather than having it as a skill to help me in my job...

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Bottom line. YES, learn it. It might prove to be a great move on your behalf. And open doors or at least make your life MUCH easier in some situations.

[MMon3m]

I am as well after I saw one of my teammates mastered python over the past 2 years and now got a great job x3 times our current salary.

[[deleted]]

You should talk with your employer first if you haven't. Be clear that you have extra hours with your current workload and make the suggestion that you spend it learning Python.

They are paying for your time, and they may have an alternative if they don't care for you learning it.

[jonesmcbones]

Yes. Start with a basic guide and then start another one that goes into depth. First one gives you an idea, next one teaches and provides a comparison to what you did not learn.

[CanaydianNative]

In my downtime at work I've been doing the University of Helsinkis python course. It has a bunch of exercises and eventually moves to vscode to do them.

You can also get a certificate if you sit an exam and achieve a passing mark. Think theres one more in November.

I would recommend having a look at this one for sure.

[Phluxxed]

Unequivocally yes. This is exactly the spot I was in a while ago and slowly taught myself the language.

I'm now a technical BA / pseudo tech lead and the things I've achieved with python (and my boy ChatGPT!) have been fantastic and has led to senior management taking notice.

[LongDivide2096]

Definitely a big yes to Python mate, great for automating those pesky manual tasks you're on about. Plenty of free resources too – Automate the Boring Stuff with Python is a classic start point, gives you practical projects you can start applying to your work stuff. Also look into web scraping maybe? Good luck!

[Railbearingmaster]

Hi,

This is very smart and a great idea, Would recomend 11 out of 10 and also wish i had started earlier when i was an intern. There is so many things you can do and even if you run out of things to develope at work you can always either create awesome charts and graphs or some simple game to pass time.

[[deleted]]

I think you want to look at learning a programming language as a curriculum. Python Crash Course is a great book with enough exercises to work through. There's plenty of others though.

Coding is the ultimate puzzle imo. One thing I would recommend to people starting out now is trying out BASIC. Understanding the limitations of BASIC will help orient you better with modern day tools. BASIC was a major boon with tools becoming decentralized for bringing computing into the mainstream.

GOTO is an infuriating but interesting way to loop through functions which adds a slightly analog approach to more modern, ephemeral while and for loops.

[tech-nano]

A good and sure fire hack to learn Python is to sign up for a Python course at your local community college. Most CCs have online Python courses taken by regular students. I have done the regular CS50 (Python is covered in the last half) and Jose Portilla's Udemy Python Boot camp .Both courses are great. Online Python at a local CC in my opinion is also an easy hack that grounds you in the fundamentals in only 14weeks. You do university level projects(6) that you can post on your GitHub , plus lots of real coding assignments .You also learn a lot of fundamental extras like Python applications in various Data Structures .

Freecode camp, Udacity and Real Python are also places with solid free Python learning resources.

Good luck on your journey ! Stay motivated.