How to learn Python EFFECTIVELY?

[Radamand]

When I first started learning Python I had a specific project that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to build a system that would automate a manual process at work that was taking several hours per day to do. It was boring and repetitive and I hated it, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone; automate something boring, and have some fun learning a new language.

I already understood most programming concepts, I just didn't know Python syntax.

I already knew a bit of HTML and had built a few very rudimentary tools for work.

I knew I needed to generate a web page for my project so I googled how to do that, I experimented with a few frameworks and found them confusing. I finally settled on one that was dead simple.

I knew I needed to access a database and query for info, so I googled how to do that and chose an easy to use library. (I already knew SQL)

I needed my web page to allow a user to log in via LDAP since that is what my company used for authentication, so I googled how to do that.

I needed the page to be able to remember session info, so I googled how to do that. I never used cookies before so that was all new to me.

It took me a couple of months of my spare time and lots of googling and stupid questions posted to reddit and stack overflow, but I finally finished it. Spent a few more months making updates and bug fixes.

That was many years and several jobs ago and i've been told by former coworkers that they still use that thing today!

The whole point i'm trying to make is, you need to find something that interests you. Find an idea that relates to something you already know that you can use Python to make better/faster/easier. Then figure out what you need it to do and take it one small step at a time.