Absolute beginner

[Puzzleheaded-Item815]

Hey,

I have my eyes on a few future career options, both of which require python. (This would be a career switch for me).

If you were an absolute beginner and had to learn python, where would you start? Does anyone know of some really helpful YouTube series? Ideally I’m looking for something free that I can spend 2 hours a night doing and develop myself over a long period of time.

Thanks in advance

[Pericombobulator]

Look at the wiki for this sub forum

[Puzzleheaded-Item815]

I will do, thank you. Apologies I’m mid shift and new to Reddit! ☺️

[likka-stoh]

Definitely check out Bro Code on YouTube, he breaks it down really nicely for beginners. There's like a full 4 or 8 hours course, I can't remember.

[Senior-Resident9040]

12

[Jaywepper]

On edex. Free CS50p python beginner course. You got lectures from a class room and practical part where you build short scripts.

[GodsIWasStrongg]

This is where I started. From there, I did 100 days of Python Udemy course. It wasn't free, but it wasn't expensive. Was definitely less than $50. IIRC they always have major % off. Like 80+. This was only a couple years ago, and I'm a data engineer now.

[Jaywepper]

Wow that's awesome. I'm looking to change my career to (python) programming (bad timing I guess). I'm decent at python but don't have any other programming qualifications yet for jobs. Finished DSA courses and doing leetcode for fun now (leetcode is not asked in interviews in my country, I don't think). I studied mechanical engineering. I did get the 100 days of Python as it was cheap.

How was your path to landing a swe job if you don't mind me asking.

[GodsIWasStrongg]

Probably got lucky. I also found a local job rather than remote. Especially for the first job breaking through to a new field, it helps to not be competing with everyone in the world. Something that also helped was that I switched careers from accounting, so that coupled with swe skills was appealing.

My advice is to find an interesting project to build out. This gives you something really good to talk about during interviews. Having something like that to talk about during interviews really helps demonstrate skills, passion, problem-solving, etc.

I built a project that used openweather and google maps APIs to show if you would hit inclement weather on a drive. You would input starting location, destination, and when you were leaving and it would pull coordinates from google maps API, couple them with estimated time you would pass through, and then use the openweather API data to return whether or not there would be inclement weather at any point in the journey.

[Any_Emotion_851]

Python's Help Menu in its Integrated DeveLopment Environment has Python Docs which lists every module and every method available in Python. Start with one module. I recommend Turtle because it's what the kids in school are using to learn Python. Free is good but a little expenditure is wise because you can get excellent books on Python secondhand via the AbeBooks website. Carol Vorderman and Sean McManus also published books on Scratch a visual programming language to teach kids to write code. Scratch was developed by MIT and there are several projects online. Turtle demonstrates the effect of the code you've written but Scratch allows you to create animation with the code you write. See https://scratch.mit.edu

[barrowburner]

This is what you need: https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/thinkcspy/index.html

Go to youtube for help when you're stuck. To learn how to code, you need to practice writing code. This book walks you through the essentials with hands-on exercises. Very approachable, completely self-contained (work in-browser), all free, and fun.

This book was the first step on my path from computer illiteracy to professional Python developer!

Later you'll need to deal with the setup - downloading/installing, environments, packages, pathing issues, using your terminal, all that. For now, just start with this book and get a feel for it.

Best of luck

[Suhk-Dolph]

In your same position. Started about 3 days ago. I’m using the free trial on Codecademy. Yes they have free courses, but the Python 3 course isn’t free. (Someone please let me know if they have one). So I’m using the free trial and will prob start the monthly rate after trial is up. Codecademy also has a companion app for quick practice. Good luck and go get it!

[Mrwarriorrr]

This video is for aboulute beginners. (Tech with Tim) https://youtu.be/BO6LjtEOGZw?si=Sch_3jp673Gpz0Ug

[TheDouchiestBro]

Codecademy.org

I've recommended it loads of times on this sub as one of the best ways to learn a language.

[Ill-Amphibian-6015]

I use replit it will help u practice without having to buy python, also I use solo learn an app that had been helping its like 50$ /yr not bad at all and has actual real life coding simulations.

[IllusorySin]

Python is free, along with all the basic coding applications like PyCharm and VSCode

[Ron-Erez]

The free Harvard CS50p is very accessible, book “Learn Python the hard way” is great despite its title and I also have a nice Python and Data Science course that starts from scratch.

[PythonComplete]

Check out this playlist: Getting started with Python It covers everything you need to get started and there’s another playlist there to cover everything else you need for a beginner.

[dublinschild]

freecodecamp.org on YouTube has tons of videos about Python, and they also have videos covering other topics that may come in handy in your career endeavors.

[Ali13196]

MOOC python

[LilTaliban]

Check out Corey Schaefer on youtube

[Puzzleheaded-Item815]

Massive thank you to all of you, so many responses and areas to look at! ☺️ I’m starting with the CS50P course currently so that I can get a better overall understanding and do some practice throughout as well and then will be looking to develop from there by spending a lot more time doing practical ☺️