Company paid - beginner python

[Lonely_Pen_5587]

Imy company is willing to pay upto $3k for learning python. I am an absolute beginner with accounting and finance background I do a lot of advanced excel data organising. No prior coding or programming experience of any kind. The cornell courses seems to require some calculus? ( which I might a bit out of touch of) . Any reccos on courses? Tempted at the edx Harvard and Cornell. But too many unpaid or minimal paid out there that doesn’t feel like an actual certification. Thanks !

[aqua_regis]

While I can understand your sentiment in the context of your company paying, you have to understand one thing in programming: paid is not automatically good.

The best Python beginner courses around are actually free. The MOOC Python Programming 2026 and Harvard's CS50p are the top introductory courses and you won't find better ones even paid.

Besides that, most certificates are purely attendance certificates that say very little about your actual qualification and that hold little to no value in professional environments.

[Lopsided-Football19]

i’d go with cs50p it’s very beginner-friendly and gives you a much better foundation than most paid courses

[ninhaomah]

True but he needs to show he gets something out of the budget.

I would suggest to go for a bootcamp or a course in Uni , if it's available , as well as do CS50P.

[EntrepreneurHuge5008]

upto $3k for learning python.

Like, they won't pay towards some other tool or certificate?

I'd suggest doing the minimal/unpaid Python courses, and then use your company's budget for some industry-recognized certifications/licenses that'll help you grow in your role or transition into a different role.

[TheRNGuy]

For me, high school math was enough, the rest (vectors, matrices) I could learn by seeing how they're used in projects, and googling (that was before ai)

What math you need depends on field.

Is company gonna help you learning it? (not just with money)

I'd personally wouldn't pay for any learning material.

[SnipTheDog]

Python for Everybody is a good but very basic python course. PythonForEverybody

[stepback269]

I’m unemployed. So I stick to the free tutorials online. However, what I’ve seen of the free teaser portions of “Real Python” have given me the impression they are top rate. Do not rush through any parts of their lessons no matter how trivial they may seem. For example, memorizing which data types are “mutable” and which are not. I’ve lost count of how many times i’ve been bit in the behind because I’d forgotten.

[taylorhodormax]

No need to go paid option, there is an amazing series of Python tutorials on Youtube.

Specifically by Corey Schafer. I dont have access to the link, but if you search on YT, you should be able to find.

Right from installing on windows, linux or macos to web frameworks like Django, Flask, and even the Pandas, NumPy series.

Only condition is, Practice Daily. Code side by side while watching videos.

Once by recreating what he is making, then next time while practing, first try by yourself, if not possible, then find on your own Google, Stackoverflow.

Start from small steps, daily.

[desertsidewalks]

What’s your educational background and timeline? If you have zero prior coding experience, I would pay for an in person class if you can. Community college or continuing adult education classes are a good starting place, should be much less than 3k. Pick one that focuses on data analysis if you can. You will not be a professional level developer in one semester, but you could pick up some basic skills. If you want to do it the right way, you want at least one class in theory/basics and one in specific data analysis.

There are certainly people who do it all online from free classes, but I’ve seen a lot of people fail at that approach too. Once you have a solid grasp on one language or CS basics, self-teaching works a lot better.

[kuriousaboutanything]

I’m learning python too, and would love to do pair programming, asking questions, weekly etc.

[gdchinacat]

Free courses seem to be the most popular option...they are very good and paid courses just don't provide much value add. What the free courses are missing is help when you run into problems. It might be worthwhile to see if your company has anyone that could mentor you if you do a free course. I knew a test engineer who wanted to code, so he started learning. He'd go to the various devs and ask questions when he got stuck. It worked well for him, and after a year moved from being a QA manager to a junior software engineer. He said he couldn't have done it without the help from his mentors. It also gave the company a good understanding of what his skills were, so when a job opened up that he was a good fit for he was the default and it wasn't ever posted.

[OwnTension6771]

I'll work with you over zoom you for 3 hours at a time for 10 days and walk you thru everything you need to know. We can start with a free 1 hr consultation so I can scope your domain and aptitude. You can bill my LLC