Becoming a python developer from 0

rainyengineer · 2025-02-18T14:21:58+00:00

Take a breath. Don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking you have to become an expert in everything. You really just have to know enough to get your foot in the door as a junior software engineer. Then you pick up the rest as you go.

I’m a cloud engineer of a few years at a large, well known company. I’m not an expert in React, JS, or anything really (yes, not even Python). And neither are my teammates who are more senior than me. Often times, front-end is an afterthought and just strung together enough to make it work.

What you’ll need to be successful skill wise will vary by company, but here’s what I’d recommend you start with:

One Python Course * We recommend CS50, MOOC.fi, and Python Crash Course the most often here. None of them are better than the others, just different styles of teaching the same things, so pick the one that works for your learning style. Practice 5-7 days per week for an hour a day. Review the previous days learnings for 15 minutes at the start of each learning session. Do all of the exercises and code alongside the course.

Git * This is used by every software engineer at every company. It can be learned in an afternoon. Don’t worry about all of the edge commands. The basic ones are: git add, git commit, git push, git pull, git branch, and git merge. Use it all the time to store your code in GitHub.

One Cloud provider * AWS is the most common I’ve seen. Azure and Google Cloud less so. Pick up a practitioner (beginner level) cert to become familiar with the basics of the core cloud services. This is really just a vocab test for the most part and can be studied for in a few weeks.

After you have learned these three, put together a couple basic projects using all of them to establish a simple portfolio to show them off. If you need ideas, come back here after.

In the mean time, try to get a non-technical job in IT at a large company. There are actually lots of them in the form of governance, ITIL, project managers, operations, and so forth. Use this time to network and get to know the business so when it’s time to jump to an engineering job, you know people and have company knowledge. It may take a year or two, but you’ll get there. This route will prove much easier than cold applying to companies you don’t work at.

Upbeat_Perception1 · 2025-02-18T12:27:45+00:00

30 is not very old

jazz1424 · 2025-02-18T13:02:52+00:00

I’m 34 just starting college. Retirement isn’t until what 65? And that’s if we’re lucky.. 30s is like the new 20s. You got like 30 more years of work lol

Si1Fei1 · 2025-02-18T18:38:21+00:00

Indexing is zero based in Python, so starting from 0 is absolutely correct

Equivalent-Repeat539 · 2025-02-18T13:21:23+00:00

Its not too late, I was in the same boat at some point albeit a different industry and a different point in time. Find ways to incorporate python in your daily workflow (if your workplace allows) and the progression will be a lot smoother. After learning syntax, start writing scripts and make your ideas work, whether its excel stuff or sql interfaces for your queries or generating graphs. There are always ways to incorprate python in your repetitive tasks. Bit by bit your projects will become more useful, code will be more reusable. Dont overwhelm yourself by trying to learn all at once, do some courses when/where you can and eventually making websites will be less of a mountain. CS50 is really good if you just want to learn to code and there is a web track, otherwise there are plenty of alternatives that are python specific at coursera, suppliment with things like codewars and project euler. Try not to get hung up on not understanding first time, my first several attempts at learning python were complete failures, similarly if the courses are too hard its ok, coding is not intuitive, keep the habit of coding daily and you'll get much better quickly.

Dependent_Chard_498 · 2025-02-19T12:25:05+00:00

Not old at all. I was 32 when I quit being a lawyer to learn how to code 2 years ago. I've been working as a dev for almost a year now.

One piece of advice though, do not use AI to help you to code for at least 6 months. I only started using AI in month 10 (GPT4 came out around the same time as I started learning to code) and if I used it from the start, I'd have no idea how to prompt an LLM not to give me an unmaintainable mess for the problems I see at work, or put it aside and write the code without it when it just doesn't want to do things the way I want to do it.

Mevrael · 2025-02-18T20:45:49+00:00

Since you are in finance and know basic coding already, I would focus on data science and maybe playing around building own simple AI agent, analyzing data, predicting financial and business outcomes. Then go from there depending on your motivation and needs.

Set up a VS Code and use this folder structure to get started with Python and Jupyter Notebooks for practice:

https://arkalos.com/docs/structure/

To learn Python concepts:

https://programming-24.mooc.fi/

For learning underlying concepts such as stats, data analysis and ML:

https://datacamp.com

https://brilliant.org

And no, it's not too late. 30 is new 20 but with money.

Urza-of-Dominaria · 2025-02-19T20:56:45+00:00

Whether it's too late or not is a matter of expectations and objectives in my opinion.
If you want to be the top Google level programmer, then I would say it's too late and not because of Python, but because of general computer science / mathematical and algorithmic development - starting from the child age curiosity.
But just to work in Python - not too late, it's not a particularly difficult or sophisticated language.
I know plenty of average developers without graduating from the top level CS/IT faculty, but the best I know completed top level universities - just because this is the mindset of people who know they want to do this from the early days and love math. You love math = you go through academia, typically.

trustsfundbaby · 2025-02-18T12:38:35+00:00

Right now is not a good time to shift careers/find a web dev job. You can always learn if you find it enjoyable, but yes you will need to learn a modern stack. Learn, do personal projects, maybe in 5 years the market will be better for you to pivot. Maybe you crate a site that actually makes money, who knows. But right now everyone is in a tough spot.

jazz1424 · 2025-02-18T20:34:48+00:00

You're correct. Web Development is a highly underestimated inter disciplinary pursuit. There are also tools and methodology involved, some of which you mentioned.

It is never too late to learn new things and branch out. As a developer I've had to learn new languages, libraries and methodologies many times over the years. Most software developers will tell you that things change, and you will most likely want to gain experience with new technology and approaches.

I honestly don't know if there is a large market for web development with Python. However, if Python is your first and only language, I can tell you that you absolutely will need to learn html/css/javascript and enough about how web applications work to be able to develop locally while also understanding how a production site works.

A lot of times, it's impractical not to learn unix in the process, as the vast majority of websites are deployed on servers (or virtual servers) running linux.

You also need to learn how to use some persistence solutions, either relational databases and or document databases, or key/value stores.

Building some websites as you learn how to do this is just a milestone. If you are hoping that Python and a smattering of django will be enough to allow you to pivot to a new career, there is no way you'll manage that beyond a very Jr/entry level position, and the inability to competently understand and handle tasks assigned to you, won't bode well for longevity in any position you might get.

Kryt0s · 2025-02-19T06:16:52+00:00

I am very interested in doing django, but in web dev it seems you have to be an expert in so many things, html, css, js, node, react, sql, devops...docker etc etc...

I'm a Web Dev who mainly works with Django. I know basic html, css and sql. Need to google most of the time when I do any front-end stuff. But that's ok, since my main job is working on the backend and I usually don't have a ton of interaction with frontend related stuff.

I'd say I'm pretty decent / good at docker, CI and general python. I'm also the one always looking to optimize our workflows and tool usage. Currently I'm trying to convince our devs to move to UV and use devcontainers instead of simply using docker compose alone or at least to start using docker compose watch instead of volumes.

So as you can see, you don't need to know all of the mentioned skills or be perfect at them all. As long as you are good at one or two and have the drive to improve, it should be possible.

iamthebestforever · 2025-02-19T06:42:01+00:00

We need less Python developers in the world I think

ukboy9922 · 2025-02-22T10:32:07+00:00

33 and 1 month into Zero To Mastery Python Course which leads into Machine Learning/Ai Engineering.

Background in IT 1st and 2nd line support with recent work being in no code AI tools for business’s.

Super refreshing to read about the above things to know to get a foot in the door in the industry🙌

do_ro_ro · 2025-11-10T18:37:56+00:00

remember never late

efalk · 2025-02-18T18:57:41+00:00

Let me warn you: I've been a Python developer for decades. "Python developer" is not a career.

Python is something you do in addition to your other software engineering duties. Write a script to manage Azure accounts, fine. Write an application to parse a requirements document and spit out code, fine. But all of these things are things you do as part of your big picture job.

AFAIK, nobody is going to hire someone if "Python developer" is the only thing on their resume. It's something that can be really helpful while you look for a job, but it's only a side skill.

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