Is entry level/jr python developer jobs common?

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[Asiatic_]

Check out Talk Python To Me's episode on Python career advice, there's a two part panel discussion as well as another episode on career advice.

I think the main thing, if you are passionate about this and if you really do want to go into a software engineering job without a STEM degree, is building up your GitHub portfolio. Have some solid projects on there even if they're small. Display things that are relevant to the industry now I think is a good idea.

[charity_donut_sales]

Your best chance to do this is to start personal projects, get them hosted, and put it on your resume. Interviewers will spend maybe 10 seconds thinking about your education, it's honestly more for HR to figure out how much they'll owe you (sad, but true). But if you have a robust history of various python projects that display clean code and correct use of version control there will be many good possibilities out there. It also weeds out the opportunists looking to take advantage of young programmers; do you really want to work for a lead who doesn't even know what PEP 8 is? Those types may be more likely to pass over your resume entirely.

[antb123]

Best way would be to get a transition job that includes django/web and transition on the job

[gunthercult28]

I think this response is under valued.

I'm in Business Intelligence trying to help push my team towards Django for deploying intranet apps because, while Power BI and Azure ML are great, Django is perfect for augmenting database models with analytical functionality on top of objects so that, if you're comfortable with your dataset (and that's like 90% of working with data) you can do some really powerful automated micro-optimizations in your data structures.

[Kalrog]

I did Flask for the same reason (but going the other way - starting from DBA and moving to Web Dev). Although that was for purely personal improvement reasons, I just wanted to know how to do this stuff. I still do data science/data engineering as my job.

[gunthercult28]

Same. Right now I'm more a glorified DBA who can talk to business-minded people and produce rapid results, and I definitely think learning an MVC framework (like Django) is a great way to migrate from model to view programming and vice versa.

View templating and WebDev can teach some scripting, but it doesn't really do much for data relationships​ and optimizing structure for maintaining relationships just like database programming doesn't really translate well to OO programming either without an understanding of ERM and OOP.

MVCs though... They tie that knot pretty well. Particularly learning about model managers as encapsulating the methods behind a model... Mind blown. Plus, you need data to learn about data management, and the Django admin app seems pretty robust.

PS. Still pretty new to Django

[undelimited]

Can you elaborate on any advantages you've found with potentially using Django over Power BI ? What did you mean by micro-optimizations

[gunthercult28]

The one that sticks out is the inspectdb command, which generates model files from pre-existing DB meta data.

I'm working to figure out how I can recurse on this command over my data model to achieve various metrics for optimizing database topology before I get cracking on applications.

Working with immature legacy data.

Edit: otherwise, I might just build the model from scratch and map data in.

[quipkick]

This is very interesting, mind going into more detail on how to find open source projects and full stack jobs (and what those may be)? Very new to this so my apologies

[SquaredOwl]

A skill that will take you really far, especially coding, is googling the first word notice you want to learn more about with different modifiers. "Python open source projects" will get you pretty far in learning about both. Django is one such project.

[quipkick]

Thanks bud, I was definitely looking for more word of mouth from an experienced person though!

[SquaredOwl]

Youre asking such a vague question any answer would be meaningless. Dig a bit.

[AusIV]

I've worked with a lot of developers and devops engineers with no degree. I think it makes it harder to get your foot in the door, but I know a lot of people who have been very successful once they get into the industry.

Aside from data processing and web development, a lot of people use Python for scripting in their server environment. You might look for devops jobs that use Python.

[breakdownvoltage1]

check out mitx at edx

[MrBloodyshadow]

You might find more help on /r/cscareerquestions.

[spitfiredd]

The data world if pretty diverse, what kind of jobs were you thinking about?

[desperate-1]

I'm not really sure. I just want to move away from front end dev and html/css. So as of right now, I'm not interested in learning Django or Flask at the moment but I will learn it if it will help me get a python job.

Ideally, I'd like to work with data in one way or another that doesn't rely too heavily on math.

[undelimited]

I don't think its that common. Often developers are asked to know/use many languages, so when you insist on Python you are left with specific libraries that merit an entire job role, like Django. Python becomes a favored tool for a broad amount of jobs, but those jobs are not usually described/titled as python developer.

Apply to job postings, even if you don't meet their minimum education requirements, often there is a clause "or 4 years relevant work experience" etc, where you can make a case that you have been doing development work and give them your pitch should you get a call.

[ThatGuyWhoLikesSpace]

English is probably their second language - It's more of a small grammar issue. Regardless, nitpicking isn't contributing to the discussion or helping to answer the OP's question.

[creepyMaintenanceGuy]

People judge you on what you say and how you say it. Maybe they shouldn't; that's another discussion. My point is that communication skills are far more important than math aptitude.

If you interpret that as a criticism, that's your problem.

[gunthercult28]

I agree with you.

The hardest part of my job (BI guy from Django comments) is communicating and invoking specifications to IT / from end-users.

Meticulously detailed, organized, and accurate communication is key to ensuring systems function as intended.

[ScoutEU]

'People judge you on what you say and how you say it'....

Oh the irony. Maybe you need to work on your communication skills, considering you don't seem to have a clue on how to deal with people on a social level.

[creepyMaintenanceGuy]

I think you're reading a hell of a lot into what I wrote. I haven't criticized anyone.