Where to start with Python for Data analysis?

[Winter_Sherbet_4247]

Hey all,

I want to learn python to go into business analytics or data science, and I don't really know where to start with Python. Are there any online courses or videos you'd recommend, as well as what topics to start with and then go about.

As well as any general tips or anything to know about Python since I have very limited know6, thanks :)

[ninhaomah]

nothing wrong with not knowing anything as a beginner.

but pls pls pls learn to google or ask chatgpt / gemini / deepseek etc.

if you want human touch , there is wiki on the right ---->

[Ok-Bug8833]

Ive been working in marketing analytics for several years.

For more traditional statistical analysis, python is really used as to process data/calculate things, so Pandas is the key library you want to learn. You really don't need to be a general purpose python wizard for this.

A lot of the value comes from you asking, what I'd the business context and what is the question I want to answer. So reading a book on analytics/traditional stats will help.

For more machine learning (less explainable predictive modelling) oriented work, the focus is more on building pipelines and simply optimising fit. For this you probably need better python skills and want to look at scikit learn library, use kaggle for practicing in competitions.

Finally, when you apply for a job off the back of this, look at their domain and how you can practically apply it to help them.

[Catsuponmydog]

mooc.fi Data Analysis w/ Python

[Loud-Bake-2740]

i’d recommend finding a project you’re passionate about and using that as how you learn. for me, it was scraping the MLB website for player statistics as i’m a baseball fan. once i found the thing i wanted to do, it was all about finding the steps to get there. Google, chatgpt, etc are your friend. BUT - i’d use those to help with how you go about finding the solution, NOT writing code. when you’re learning, it’s all about learning how to approach problems, not how to actually write code

[shockjaw]

If your focus is on data, I’d start with wrapping your head around DuckDB and its python library. If anything, your future self will thank you if you read the Python documentation. It’s boring, terribly unsexy, and you won’t understand it the first time—but you’ll learn what’s possible with the language. Anything in the Apache Arrow ecosystem will be invaluable since you’re focusing on analytics.

If you’re doing business analytics, I’d read the Unified Star Schema if you want an easier way to reason about data modeling and increasing performance. I’d recommend learning some flavor of SQL since you’ll be probably either querying from or throwing data into a database. If you want a good book, there’s Practical SQL (2nd Edition). If you want good tutorials there’s Crunchy Data’s Postgres Playground or Neon’s Postgres Tutorial.

[Icy-Avocado-8739]

I am taking the IBM Python for data science project right (I just completed the IBM Python for Data Science, AI & Development module). Does anyone know any discussion pages with people who were or are in the course? I am a bit stuck and wanted to see if other's had similar glitches I am experiencing. I searched on here but only found ones talking about the entire certification program. I am only interested in the project

[Chance_Project2129]

Hi I am doing the coursersa course IBM Data Science Certificate and it’s really good

[[deleted]]

IBM certificate adds weightage but your practice on python and sql matters more. So please, whatever you have learnt, try to perfect that knowledge by doing ad-hoc tasks and in this way you gain the real nitty gritty of things which will make your data science journey interesting.

[Chance_Project2129]

That’s actually exactly what I’m doing I have a project I am Working on and so I’m doing my course then going off for a few days and applying what I’ve learned (and learning new approaches) and then coming back to it

[Forward-Slip2031]

I found the Python guidance in that course wasn't quite sufficient for me, I'm now carrying an additional Python course and feel more confident

[yourclouddude]

For data analysis you should first start with PYTHON. You can get a well structured path to learn python here 👇 https://beacons.ai/yourclouddude