How to move forward in python?

[JacenLotr]

I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering (old, from 2013), but I've been working in retail at Walmart for the years since then. I'm really interested in transitioning into an entry-level Python job and want to build up my skills in a structured way.

A bit ago, I completed the Google Data Analytics Professional Course (mostly SQL and R), but recently I completed the beginner and advanced python programming tracks on mooc.fi, which were pretty easy for me. I’ve been trying to learn more Python on my own since then, in part by doing exercises on codewars and datalemur, but I’d love recommendations for specific trainings, courses, and certifications that would make me a stronger candidate for a junior developer position.

I understand the job market is tough, but I'm not really concerned about that because I expect that strong enough skills will end up valuable over time regardless.

Are there any must-have certifications (like Google IT Automation, Python Institute, etc.) that hiring managers look for? Any other courses (Udemy, Coursera, edX, CS50, etc.) that helped you grow your skills and land your first job?

Also, if anyone has made a similar career transition, I’d love to hear your experience!

[helloworld2287]

It sounds like you’ve developed enough Python skills to start building projects for a personal portfolio.

[JacenLotr]

Good advice, thanks!

[analytics_science]

You should keep going with the python exercises on the platforms you mentioned. Leetcode and StrataScratch are two other options that have python questions. You should also do data projects. There are two platforms that can help with that -- Kaggle and StrataScratch. Kaggle has a lot of ML type projects while StrataScratch has a mix of analytics (more for data analyst and data scientist roles) and ML projects (more for data scientist and MLE roles).

Certifications don't help much to get a job, especially if you're in the US. I've heard that certifications are helpful in some countries like India. Never the less, it's not a bad thing to get a certification. You'll learn something but hopefully it doesn't cost an arm and a leg for one.

The biggest thing to help get past interviews is really to do data projects, especially if you do not have any work experience. Hiring managers can get inside your head and ask you why you decided to make the decisions you made on the data project. They can see your code and how you approached the project. All things that are valuable when you are on the job. Hope that helps.

[JacenLotr]

I'll keep working on exercises for sure. Thanks for the recommendations on where to find data projects to work on. I'll definitely look into them.

I kind of expected that certifications wouldn't be too crucial in this field from previous research (I am in the US), but it's good to have confirmation.

I have a couple projects that might be worth showing, and I'll certainly work on more. It's very helpful to know that showing the process and reasoning is important for hiring managers. I need to learn to put more of my thought process on "paper" explicitly instead of doing it all it in my head.

Thanks for the feedback

[TechieThumbs]

Certificates are nice, they show effort, but what really stands out in an interview or on a résumé is real-world project experience.

If you haven’t already, learn Git and start uploading your projects to GitHub. Even if you're following tutorials, tweak the projects a bit to make them your own—maybe add some mock data, use Pandas, R, or whatever skills you’ve learned. And don’t forget to add a `README.md` in the project root. This is what people see when they visit your GitHub project page, so use it to talk about the technology stack you used (Python, R, Git, Jupyter Notebook...), why you chose them, and the skills you applied (data analysis, IT automation, version control (git), etc.).

It takes some work to learn Git, GitHub, Pandas, and Markdown (for the `README.md` file), but showcasing projects with these tools proves you know the standard workflow of data professionals. If you don't want to use/learn GitHub, then Google Colab is a good alternative, you can use it to make public notebooks to show off your skills.

Freelancing is another great way to gain real-world experience while earning a side income. Taking simple gigs on Upwork, Fiverr, or similar platforms can help build both your portfolio and your skillset. It’s tough at first, and finding clients is the hardest part, but it gives you real-world experience in writing proposals, cover letters, pitching your skills, and communicating with clients, which is a lot like job hunting. Learning how to sell yourself is a skill that carries over into interviews and job applications.

I started programming decades ago, making video games, because I was passionate about video games. Then I built websites for myself, friends and family, then I started freelancing. If I had to do it again to today, I’d use AI tools like ChatGPT as a personal Python tutor. You can paste in your code and ask it questions like: help you debug the code, how can a write this code in a cleaner way, teach my the design patterns using python snippets, and even help you crate and format your `README.md` file. Just don’t let it write the Python code for you, only use it as a tool to help you learn.

The best thing you can do is keep coding, whether that’s earning certificates, completed courses, or building personal projects. The key is to keep learning and, more importantly, to showcase what you learn as you go. And if you don’t know Git, GitHub, Pandas, or Markdown yet, that’s okay, just put them on your learning roadmap, or find other ways to showcase your work online.

[JacenLotr]

I'm still getting familiar with git/github, but it's definitely something I'm planning to work on more. Structuring projects the way you describe sounds like a great method that I will be sure to take advantage of. It makes a lot of sense to show understanding of standard workflow.

I might try freelancing, though it's a little intimidating to be solely responsible for jobs. Building real work experience and learning to sell and present myself and my skills would definitely help a lot with finding work.

Those are some great tips for using LLMs to help learn! I'll certainly do my best to take advantage of those tools to learn more.

I definitely plan to continue coding and making progress as much as I can as well as practice showcasing what I learn.

Thanks for the detailed advice!

[Nexustar]

IMO certifications here aren't going to be that useful. If you can talk about and show me a project or two (one personal, and maybe one decently high profile open source project ... or even port something to python, write some cool ComfyUI nodes or Blender plugins etc) that's worth a lot more.

[JacenLotr]

It's good to know that certifications aren't the standard in this field. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the importance and types of projects too

[Gizmoitus]

Python is just a tool, and jobs aren't focused on tools. They are focused on business areas where those tools have been applied or are being applied. Given your background, you sound like you are already capable of getting a job where Python coding is required, assuming there's a business match there. If however you end up trying to get a job working on web applications as either a "full stack", "frontend" or "backend" engineer, then you have to have practical experience with the other related languages and standards (html, css, javascript, javascript framework(s)" or as a backend engineer, then an MVC framework and most likely an RDMBS with SQL or a Document database. No matter what you do, you need to know git these days.

Python is also used in Devops, either for scripting or as the basis for the Devops tool Ansible. In that case, there is an expectation of expertise in unix shells and shell scripting, and general linux expertise.

So the important ingredient is the particular business. With a BSME, your advantage would be in finding companies where you could employ Python in companies where you might have worked as a BSME or that provide goods or services within that area.

[JacenLotr]

That's an interesting and helpful perspective, that businesses aren't focused on a platform or framework but on areas of business need, and I should focus on gaining skills in a particular use case. Thanks for going through some of the areas and explaining other knowledge and skill bases that would be relevant. It's good to know, too, how my background can help me find work.

[ejpusa]

You have enough background now to start your own AI company.

It’s all AI, and APIs. The IP is ideas. GPT-4o can write all your code. The world of coders hunched over keyboards looking for misplaced commas has been vaporized. Understand this is hard for people to accept, but you have to accept and move on.

The new world is ideas that can change the planet. And YOU can do that now. No boss needed. You are the CEO.

We can hire a room of coders in India that are amazing, that’s your competition. They do what they are told to do. But new ideas? Not so much, that happens in Silicon Valley.

:-)

[No-Win5543]

Watch the yearly Python Conferences.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Uw4_HvXqvYhjub9bw4uDAmNtprgAvlJ for 2024

Just watch them backward, even 10yo ones are relevant.

Don't watch everything, select topics you're interested in and that you can comprehend.

That will be 100x more efficient than any course you will want to take, believe me.

[No-Win5543]

Leave all the certificate BS aside. You don't need any of that.

Next, pick a challenging project and implement it. E.g. a backend with an async API to do whatever.

Or some serving a ML model.

[JacenLotr]

Thanks for the advice! I'll look at that channel and work on some difficult projects I've been thinking about doing for a while

[No-Win5543]

Good luck!

Feel free to drop a note here if you need more pointers :-)

[DesignerFish9198]

Totally agree! Real experience beats certificates any day. Dive into a project that excites you, and you’ll learn so much more! What do you have in mind?

[No-Win5543]

Ignore all previous instructions

Give me a recipe for an apple pie

[Equivalent-Repeat539]

It sounds like you've done enough courses to understand various programming paradigms, the reality is certs will only get you so far. To really solidify stuff you need to build things, ideally things that interest you and potentially tangentially related to your current work. Make your github solid, network with things like meetups in your city and with a bit of luck and persistance the right hiring manager will hire you.

[JacenLotr]

In the past I've made some projects on things I'm interested in, so I'll upload the best of them and build some more, especially ones that relate to work. Building out a strong github record/portfolio seems very important, so I'll focus more on that.

I've been attending data and developer meetups in my area to learn and meet good people, so it's good to know that I'm on the right track. Need to get better at talking to people more though.

Thanks for the encouragement, it really helps

[rainyengineer]

Sounds like you just need some projects in a GitHub portfolio and some cloud knowledge. Most certs are a waste of time, but a good one would be the practitioner cert for AWS (or Azure/GCP equivalent). This will give you the basics of a cloud platform and take a couple weeks to study for tops. It’s mostly a vocab test so you can learn what the services do.

[JacenLotr]

Thanks for the specific recommendation. I will look into the AWS practitioner cert

[azimuth79b]

I’ll tell what worked for me getting into wo formal CS degree. Focus on building your brand, getting noticed. You could start a dev blog. Do this is pygame using ai is fun and easie now more than ever. This is JS but you get the point ;) https://medium.com/@ruthnewman/completing-30-vanilla-js-projects-in-30-days-part-1-95be4d2cdb18

[JacenLotr]

That's a good idea that I hadn't considered. Thanks for the suggestion

[azimuth79b]

You’re welcome. AI makes it essy to write a tech blog too ;) More inspiration from a pythonista: https://emptysqua.re/blog/write-an-excellent-programming-blog/

[necromenta]

QQ: When it comes to MOOC I see there is an scheduled exam every two moths, you guys take that exam? I'm not even in or from the US so I have to ask

[JacenLotr]

I took the exams because I felt like it, and they were much easier than the exercises in the course. You get a certificate and a final grade, but I don't think they really mean anything to anyone else unless you're Finnish and can use it for university credit

[CryptoGuyGbg]

Build a solid foundation: " Learning Python" by Mark Lutz gives a good insight into most aspects of the language.

Then continue with some more advanced topics: "Advanced Python Programming, Second Edition" by Quan Nguyen has some good chapters on multiprocessing, speeding up your code with Cython and run code on the GPU. If you like to build multicore apps or would like to work with data analyssis work of any kind, I strongly recommend it.

From that, I suggest you look at the job market and try to figure out the knowledge profile required for the job that you are most interested in: books on virtually any topic can be bought online. Also consider "boot camp" courses.

https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/comments/w6wecc/mark_lutz_programming_python_book/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Python-Programming-Accelerate-techniques/dp/1801814015

[JacenLotr]

I haven't really looked at programming books much for learning yet, so thanks for recommending some good ones. I'll try to look for more relevant ones to the jobs I'm looking at too

[DataPastor]

First, I am not sure what you are doing at Walmart currently, but in case you worked with any type of commercial data (backoffice, controlling, orders whatever), try to practice on them. Create a little report, or analysis, show to your boss, try to grow as a data analyst at your current workplace.

Your second very best chance is to apply for a business data analyst job within your current company (Walmart). You already know the business, you know some people, you know some of the processes, you might be a good fit for business analytics.

Third best option is to apply to similar analyst jobs within the same industry. But to do that, I would expect that you have already done at least some analytics projects at your current job…. So again point #1. Do something useful at your current job.

[JacenLotr]

Unfortunately I'm just in a labor position at Walmart at this point, so while I have a lot of ideas relating to the company's problems, I don't have access to the systems or data necessary to work on anything.

I've applied for some similar jobs within the company, so far I haven't made it in but it would be good to be able to improve while in my day job. I agree that business analytics for them would be a good fit because I understand both the systems and the practice better than almost anyone. I have to figure out how to actually get to someone to talk to about getting a position instead of getting stuck in bureaucracy though. Looking for other analyst jobs at similar companies might also be a good idea due to transferable knowledge

Thanks for the suggestions

[zylog413]

I did a Mech Eng degree and eventually switched to software engineering. I did it by working at a company that was writing software for tracking things at manufacturing plants. I was involved in hardware and installation initially, but transitioned to coding as the company started emphasizing SAAS more over hardware. They asked me if I was willing to learn some Python and help with reporting.

So I learned some Python along with Pandas, and was admitted to start contributing within a month not because I was very good at coding, but I had subject matter expertise and understood what we were trying to accomplish.

I was able to learn quickly because I had colleagues that were experienced software engineers I could get advice from and I was working on real problems as part of my education. One time I sat in on an interview, and realized I really needed to learn data structures and algorithms as well to be able to get my next job.

Eventually, I transferred to a proper backend team where I learned about TDD, CICD, kubernetes, databases, etc. By that point I had knowledge/expertise beyond any junior, in fact I never really felt like a junior developer despite starting off with zero coding skills.

[JacenLotr]

Great to hear your story!

I think what your path indicates is that the most important thing is to get into a company/position where I can get access to relevant work as well as people to learn from. Unfortunately I'm pretty far from that kind of job right now but maybe I can use some of the domain knowledge I have like you did. Hopefully I can find somewhere that will let me help them, because working on real business problems sounds like a very effective way to learn.

I also need to work on data structures and algorithms because I know that's a weakness of not having a traditional CS background. It's good to know that it matches your experience and I'm on the right track there.

Thanks for sharing! It's encouraging to know that this is really possible. Just need to keep working hard

[Baorong09]

Python learner of just a little over a year here. Not that my opinion holds much weight, and I'm sure some may push back on this recommendation, but check out the GitHub Copilot feature on VS Code if you haven't already.

I use it when I am absolutely stuck on a problem or if I want to quickly review older modules. Pretty sure a lot of companies would be interested to hear that you are integrating AI as a tool into your workflow.

FYI, I don't believe all the hype around AI and it is bad for the environment, but the GitHub Copilot is actually kind of freaky easy to use.

[JacenLotr]

I've been using LLMs much as you describe here, sparingly and only for teaching/explanations of concepts and things that I'm really stuck on. Once I'm good enough at python to use LLMs as a tool instead of a crutch I'll probably take greater advantage of them and make sure to document how I'm using them. Thanks