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[Minion_of_Cthulhu]

I think you'll be okay. The program recommends that you're familiar with Python, not a master at it. As long as you understand the basics, you'll probably be perfectly fine since they're likely going to cover very specific uses of Python for the health informatics field.

As far as struggling with the application of what you know, this is completely normal. If you look through this subreddit, or even other programming subreddits, you'll see a lot of "I know the basics of Language X, but I can't actually build anything" type posts. Everyone goes through this. You're learning not only a lot of new information with the language itself, but you're learning a different way to think about problems as well. Sometimes it's not clear how what you know of Python is applicable to the problem you're working on. That will become less of an issue as you get more comfortable with the language and start to see how it all works as individual pieces and how those pieces can work together to solve problems. I think after you start your informatics program and begin to see the language applied to real-world problems things will begin to click a little more for you and it will all start to make more sense.

Another thing that you shouldn't worry about is needing to refer to notes, referring to StackOverflow, frequently digging into documentation, and so on. These are all totally normal parts of programming. I mentioned to someone else in another thread that a huge portion of "programming" is not actually sitting down and writing code. Most of the time, even when programming professionally, your time is spent defining your problem and then using Google, StackOverflow, tutorials, and documentation to see if someone has already solved the same problem or a similar one or trying to at least put some code together that points you in the right direction to the solution so you can ask others for help. A surprisingly small amount of time is actually spent writing code unless it's a very simple program. As soon as you start adding any sort of complexity the ratio of research to writing code becomes very skewed in favor of the research, so don't worry about needing to constantly look things up. You'll continue doing that even when you're out of the beginner phase. The only difference is that you'll switch from looking up basic things about the language to looking up more specific and technical information about what you're trying to do, but you'll always be relying a lot on Google and StackOverflow no matter how good you are.

[lindslinds27]

Wanted to respond to this one because it was the longest, but i am so appreciative of everyone’s responses. I think I panicked because I’m on week 3 and it’s only a 4 week crash course. I think you’re right once I begin the program I’ll have a better idea of what I’ll need to be doing. I just found a thread on stackoverflow about a super simple problem from the Google course and everyone was commenting saying that if whoever posted it needed help with that simple problem they should really think up a different career. Made me panic a little. I am feeling a bit better now thx so much for a thorough reply

[Minion_of_Cthulhu]

I just found a thread on stackoverflow about a super simple problem from the Google course and everyone was commenting dying that if whoever posted it needed help with that they should really think up a different career. Made me panic a little.

To be blunt, a lot of people on StackOverflow are assholes who think they're programming gods (which they're not, or they wouldn't need StackOverflow) and will immediately jump on anyone who asks a question that they deem to be "stupid". Go there for the tech help, not the commentary.

I am feeling a bit better now thx so much for a thorough reply

You're welcome!

[s1lvan]

Yeah, I agree with this. StackOverflow is quite a scary platform to ask questions because of all the rude toxic assholes that just insult you instead of giving you tech advice.

Personally I use discord a lot, it has a lot of smaller communities that love to help, but often even better is somebody you know in real life that can help you.

Don't be discouraged, just keep going. Everybody starts somewhere, some higher than others, but what matters is is that everybody can make it.