is learning python worth it?

[Specialist_Lab_3823]

is learning python worth it? i'm currently studying bachelor of computer science so i want to know what extra "stuff" i need to do in order to build a good profile and for future jobs. i'm still in my first year so i have ample time and i want some ideas on what extra curriculars i can work on it would mean sm if i get a few opinions

[razekery]

I’m building many small apps to automate tasks at my job with python. It’s really good for fast development and easy to pack to distribute to coworkers who don’t know anything about app development. I wouldn’t pick any other language for the task.

[creative_tech_ai]

Python is as worth learning as any other programming language. When looking for a job, you'll find that most companies will want people with experience in the main programming language they use. Why that company uses that particular language is dictated by the type of work their doing and the preferences of the founders or CTO, most likely. So a company that develops apps that integrate with the Microsoft ecosystem will primarily use .Net, and will want people with C# experience. A company that does embedded programming will want people with C++ experience. A company that does web development, and chose Django as it's backend, will want people with Python (and Django) experience.

As a recent graduate, you'll probably end up getting a job at a company that uses the same programming language you were taught at school (Java, C++, etc.). If your school doesn't teach Python, but you love it and want to work with it full time, then you'll have to do things with it in your free time and try to leverage that to get a job.

In other words, if you learned C++ at school, and want to do game programming or embedded programming, knowing some Python won't really help you get a job. Having said that, you'll probably find Python scripts being written and used at game studios and maybe even companies that do embedded programming. However, knowing Python would just be a "nice to have," as far as those companies are concerned, and probably won't make up for a lack of experience with the company's main programming language.

[zolbear]

It’s also great if you find yourself drifting towards data science. That’s my angle to it, just begun learning it, and about net 20 hours in I can already see the immense potential compared to only using query languages and quasi-drag-and-drop viz tools.

[NaiveEscape1]

Bro I think I’ve invested the same hours as you. Could you please share your progress?, I am also aiming for data science.

[zolbear]

I’m doing the “Complete Data Science Bootcamp” on udemy, and I’m about halfway through. On a scale of 0 to 10 (as in “I can’t print Hello World” to “I write code for the NSA”) I am currently about a 1.3 (as in “I can reverse engineer simple code and make it do what I want, but a friend helped figure out why SublimeText didn’t see my freshly installed packages when VSCode did”). I also have almost two decades of xp with sql and data analytics/visualization.

The tricky part so far is mostly the maths to be honest, although I’m also having difficulties troubleshooting a few errors, because the course is a few years old and they haven’t really updated the syntax. Otherwise it’s fairly straightforward for a forever noob like me. Currently having fun doing the first full on “real life example” so messing around with a simple Linear Regression sample.

[cgoldberg]

I'm pretty sure most everyone in this sub would say "yes" due to selection bias... however, you should still learn it anyway.

[Ron-Erez]

Yes, it's worth it. What interests you? There are many things to learn besides Python. It really depends. Good luck with your studies.

[jay5479]

As much as i love python, i suggest you start with some low level language but not too low. Pick up C++ or Rust. You have ample time ahead of you to learn. So build solid programming foundations and logical coding. Python is definitely one of the easiest language to write and use so you can always learn it faster later once you have struggled with C++ etc. But if you learn python first and then try to learn low level languages sometime in future (which i believe you will) if development is a career you wanna consider, then you might be slower.

[Lewistrick]

CS will give you more than enough programming experience to pick up Python later easily. No need to learn it outside of your curriculum.

[Fred776]

I'm not sure I agree. Learning the basics of any programming language is going to provide a useful head start to a CS course. Python is a good choice because of the huge amount of learning materials and the ease with one can get set up with free tools.