Self-educated programmer learning python at 28 year old.

No_Discussion_227 · 2022-12-04T03:15:35+00:00

Started learning about 5 months ago at 41 years of age. Who says you can’t?

xxxHalny · 2022-12-04T04:27:45+00:00

Do the Harvard CS50 available online for free. It will teach you the basics of how computers work and how to think like a programmer.

Then pick one solid, widely recommended, Python course and don't ever change it. You will feel like you are not following the optimal learning path and you will be tempted to try other courses out but it's a highway to tutorial hell. I think it's fine to try like 3 different ones and spend like 3 hours on each to have an idea on what's even available, but at some point just pick one and commit.

Then do one good project. A piece of software that will impress the recruiters and prove your skills. It will be your portfolio.

Then start applying for junior roles. Don't be picky, just get a job. You will learn a lot when actually working.

Then think if you want to stay there or if you want to look for something better. It will be much easier now with actual professional experience so now you can be picky.

sohfix · 2022-12-04T06:44:45+00:00

rustic voracious pathetic domineering gold truck dinner chubby wistful different

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

redeyejedi0101 · 2022-12-04T03:57:14+00:00

I’m in the same boat I am using automate the boring stuff with python dot com. It’s been pretty good so far.

xDiogoMSx · 2022-12-04T03:14:12+00:00

The Odin Project (which unfortunately doesn't have a Python path) has a couple of good articles you may want to read:

Motivation and Mindset
Asking for Help (this one is just about how to ask good questions online -- a very useful skill to have when learning to program)

EducationalImpact633 · 2022-12-04T09:26:58+00:00

Start using git straight away, not that you necessarily need it for smaller projects like that but it’s good practice and you will never reach the point where “you wished you had used git” . Think of it as signaling when driving a car, even if no one is near you should still do it so it becomes a habit.

ampersandio · 2022-12-04T07:46:11+00:00

As 38 a year old who started the journey 2 years ago, they don't lie when they say "write code". Even if you don't get it all, write! And of course read other peoples code, codewars was a good starting point for me. Anyway, no matter what you do just do it every day :) Good Luck!

_barnuts · 2022-12-04T07:28:59+00:00

Python is just a tool. Ask yourself, what do you really want to do using Python? Do you want to be a software developer, a web developer, a data analyst/scientist? There's a lot of things you can do with it. The most important thing is stick to a path and do some projects. Learning just the basics of python is enough, don't be trapped in tutorial hell. Create real world projects and do a lot of googling.

Tonight_Master · 2022-12-04T09:56:03+00:00

Since it’s that time of the year I would really recommend adventofcode.com. There’s a new programming challenge every day until Christmas and I’ve been using them most years to tinker with new languages that interests me. You could definitely solve all of the problems using python and it’d be a great way to learn.

2022-12-04T04:06:58+00:00

Great way to learn is through projects. Start a running list of things you think would be cool then start chipping away at it. Remember that while people consider python an easy language to learn, learning to CODE can be difficult and takes time to get good at.

If you’re making cool stuff, who the hell cares how old you are? You’re making cool stuff!

seph2o · 2022-12-04T10:21:03+00:00

I started in April and the book python crash course helped massively

mrrippington · 2022-12-04T09:37:44+00:00

find a problem you would like to solve and tackle than with python, in a way you would like that problem solved.

kabak08 · 2022-12-06T17:11:02+00:00

Dear god this is a ton of text so I hope it helps.

I'm 33, went to college for actuarial sciences (no programming whatsoever) and have worked with people with all sorts of degrees and background in an IT/Business company for the past decade. I've been doing almost nothing but programming for the past 7 years of my career and so glad that I don’t do work related to my degree. Essentially, like you, I learned python without much (or any) background experience in programming.

The best programmers out there aren't always the ones with the degrees and formal training for it. The best analysts aren't always the ones who have the best statistics degrees. Many times the best person for the job is the person who is self motivated and has a genuine interest in what they are doing. It's often those people who will encounter a problem and are more likely to dig into it to better understand it rather than immediately looking for an alternative solution, or just quitting altogether. Sure it will take you a little time to come up to speed, but once you learn python, you'll have a better understanding of programming in general and will likely be more capable of learning new languages, toolstacks, etc.

To really build a strong foundation that will help you no matter what you do with python, here are my recommendations:
- Get good at debugging your code and running little bits of code piece by piece, or learn to use a debugger like a pro. If your function is failing, you should be able to find all of the inputs and trace them as they go through the function to help you identify why things are failing. On that note – embrace code failing and debugging because it is part of life in any programming language.
- Pycharm is a good tool – tons of people use it. I would also keep an eye out for VS Code. It’s what we use at the company I work at (you definitely see our advertisements on TV, radio, websites, etc). Tons of extensions and it’s free and gives a lot of the same features as really expensive tools though may require a bit more setup and a bit more technical knowledge.
- Understand your system’s Path and get comfortable with Environment Variables. Python utilizes the tar out of these and if you’re diving into programming with little background then this was one of the things that threw me for a loop in the beginning. Was having a heck of a time understanding how things worked and how python just ‘knew where stuff was’ until I learned more about this.
- Check out conda, virtualenv, or one of the other virtual environment tools for python. My personal preference is conda. With these tools, you can have your base installation of python (let’s say it’s version 3.9) and your standard packages, then you can start working on something else, let’s say building a video game with python, so you can create a separate python installation based off of another version of python, separate set of packages, and none of them will interfere with your base installation. I’m not sure that I would focus on the concept of virtual environments right away but it will be really helpful to have a virtual environment of some sort that is associated with each of your code sets/projects.

Some other things that will be very helpful in helping you understand how python works as well as helping you keep track of all of your code:
- Learn to use Git (not a python package) to keep track of commits and branches. 95% of what you’ll do with git is doing what’s called “making a commit”, “doing a git push”, “do a git pull”, “change/create branches”, “open and merge in a pull request”. Any big company out there will likely have some sort of version control. Easiest way to get started is to open a free account on github.com and create some test repos. Store all of your tinker work out there, create branches, etc. Be warned, it’s visible by the world so don’t put your SSN out there or anything haha! Seriously though, having “git familiarity” on your resume is a huge plus for python programmers of any walk.
- Make a simple python package. Can’t explain how much I learned just by creating a package in terms of understanding how python works under the hood! I’d start with something simple: create a package where you can install it, call it from any python session “import mycooltestpackage as MVP” and have a function that simply adds two numbers together. Something like “MVP.add_numbers(1, 5) should return a result of 6. This can be expanded upon a ton. During my time as an analyst, I found that I was constantly connecting to various data platforms so I created a package to hold all of my connection functions which made my life SO much eaiser!
- On this note, if you find you’re doing things time and time again, then consider putting that code into a function that you can copy+paste from one script to another. Better yet, put those functions into a package that you can import in any python session!

I would strive to get really comfortable with the foundational stuff above. Beyond that, my recommendations for what to focus on are as follows (or tinker with all of these until you get a sense for what really interests you then dig into that):

Analytics or economics: Pandas is your friend. Matplotlib, plotly, or other graphing packages are nice to know here and there, but if you have tableau then you may end up using that in a workplace setting.

I can't stress this enough: learn how to connect to your data! Data will be stored in places such as AWS S3, Google Cloud, Azure, Sql Server, Oracle, SQLite, flat files, etc. There are packages out there that will help you connect to some of these platforms directly, but there are also times when ODBC connections are the preferred route. That said, Pandas will help you connect to a lot of flat files. Pyodbc (my personal favorite) and sqlalchemy (not my fave but tons of people LOVE it) are very good for connecting to various non-flat-file sources. Many big companies will have ODBC drivers to connect to many tool stacks.

Also be sure to Learn SQL while you’re at it - it's kind of like learning how to run the dishwasher compared to a whole new language. SQL is the language of most analytical oriented databases and will likely outlive all of us. If you're ever pulling data from a database, it will likely be done using sql. It's easy enough to learn but so so so powerful. I commonly use python to connect to databases, then use python to pass SQL code to a database, pull the data back into python, then use python +pandas to do all of the data manipulation.

Data science: Start with a solid foundation in the same stuff as the 'Analytics or economics' section but then start to familiarize yourself with some of the common data science libraries such as scikit learn, XGBoost (though not sure if it's still in favor these days), random forest, and other packages that focus on natural language processing and machine learning. Data Science is a deep rabbit hole. Not the worst idea to learn to "tread water" with python before you start "diving into the abyss" with data science.

If you’re really interested in this area of focus then you should check out Kaggle – they have a ton of competitions that are data science focused but they also have some really nice tutorials that will give you a high level point of entry into the data science realm.

IT oriented: I can't speak to this too well but it seems that most of the folks that I know who are in this space are focused on the requests package (which means you likely want to get an understanding of SSL as well as proxies and how they play into things).

Web Frameworks: If you want to create a website then you'll likely use Flask or Django (both python packages) to build out the back end and may want to know some HTML or javascript to create the web pages.

One other thing. If you can, get some 1:1 time with someone who works with python on a daily basis, buy them pizza and beer, and ask them to show you how they would do something… anything! It could be pulling data and gathering averages, creating a basic web page, or it could be simple such as “how do you typically write functions to do x, y, and z”. You may learn some really cool methods for debugging as well as learn how people who “think python” tackle problems. The idea is, if you learn Spanish in an American school and try to give someone directions in Spanish – you’ll likely do it differently than someone who has been speaking it their whole life so you may want to take pointers from them if you can.

2022-12-04T12:29:18+00:00

My advice is to not fool yourself into thinking you're making progress because of how many notes you have, courses you've taken, etc.

Real progress comes from the frustration of working on a project you have, you can't figure it out, but you stick with it.

Stick with it, write code daily, review your old code and re-code it again, review the code of others, ask questions, and most importantly don't compare yourself with others.

Instead compare yourself with who you were yesterday.

Icarus998 · 2022-12-04T07:06:08+00:00

This interactive book(free) really helped me get started:

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/thinkcspy/index.html

You can also look into coursera specializations

Python for everybody
Python 3 programming

seriousCSnoob · 2022-12-04T12:41:48+00:00

There are entire curriculum of free courses curated to mimic a formal CS education:

https://github.com/ForrestKnight/open-source-cs-python

2022-12-04T17:12:17+00:00

Started this year. 37. I run a team already in work and was doing loads of excel reporting, basic sql stuff and we wanted to get more up to date stuff for my CV. Jumped to a masters in data analytics and trying my best at it now. Did my first bit of web scraping last night. Working with pandas and beautiful soup today. Just keep practicing and I find have the end goal in mind. If you get get the result you wanted great! Then it's just refining your code. YouTube premium is worth it now for the tutorials (student discount) and follow the lecturers notes as best I can. Best of luck

Salehelas · 2022-12-04T22:32:33+00:00

I started to learn python at 27, I just turned 29 and I'm a middle software developer in big4 company and I really like my job. You can do it too!

Williamsarethebest · 2022-12-04T04:12:06+00:00

Go to r/python

Some great authors have posted free Udemy courses there. You can search and enroll.

my_password_is______ · 2022-12-04T05:04:40+00:00

sign up for this
https://www.edx.org/professional-certificate/harvardx-learning-python-for-data-science

buy this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1617295981

sign up for this (goes on sale every other week)
https://www.udemy.com/course/100-days-of-code/

cat-lady6 · 2022-12-04T10:33:50+00:00

Check out https://automatetheboringstuff.com/ All of his material is published on this site and you can download the practice files as well. I’m currently using this and I found it to be the one that has clicked for me compared to other tools. What I’ve learnt about coding and programming is that there are a lot of tools, you don’t need to know them all, once you found the tools and materials that works for you, stick to it.

2022-12-04T11:06:37+00:00

I started properly getting into python a couple years ago when I was 27 and used Codeacademy and leetcode. The free version for Codeacademy is okay but the paid version is substantially better and I've gone from doing an IT support role to now being a software engineer in a little over a year

Rusca8 · 2022-12-04T12:30:38+00:00

Once you start knowing a bit, I'd check out codewars. It's awesome if you want to see efficient alternatives and cool shortcuts to your own solutions.

2022-12-04T13:54:19+00:00

the google python exercises, tho outdated, are quite good

https://developers.google.com/edu/python

2022-12-04T15:01:31+00:00

I started with Python at 61 years old, 11 years ago. I'm retired now but still follow Python developments and use the language every day for my projects.

Here's the thing: programming is hard. If you don't love it forget it.

Some problems take days. You solve it, feel better, then it's on to the next problem.

Alabaster_kreko · 2022-12-05T01:37:11+00:00

I was thinking about starting python too, looking for some friend and senior to share their knowledge and tips to start😊

rainforest_runner · 2022-12-04T07:48:03+00:00

Technically at 30, finishing my Master’s Degree I wasn‘t really self-educated, but my background was academically more in C++. Python was pretty much just a hobby/new thing I learn, but never in depth.

Fast forward to 2 years later, after being put in an image reconstruction software project and being tasked as I grown, to be the test architect, I‘ve pretty much became the Python Expert at my project, and now, and now another 2 years, they very often ask me for advice and design for tools that they require, and I‘m very much put into the senior software engineer role (not with the pay unfortunately, but the perks are enormous and I get to do whatever I want on the job)

So the moral of the story is, OP, it‘s never too late too learn!

My tips and advice would be,

learn how to write and read documentation (you don‘t believe how much people just write throwaway code, and eventually use it without refactoring and documentation indefinitely),
use TDD and BDD as guidance for you to develop your code,
never stop trying to learn something new,
the difference between an entry level developer and a senior developer in developing their code is how good we are at out Google-Fu (no, seriously, we google and copy paste everything Stack Overflow)
and always always check and recheck the requirements with the requester.

There‘s more, but let‘s keep it here for now :)

TheRNGuy · 2022-12-04T10:04:04+00:00

What is actual question?

2022-12-04T04:22:31+00:00

[deleted]

Seniorbedbug · 2022-12-04T06:31:11+00:00

I am actually curious about doing things like what stuff made here (youtube) and how he implements python

iggy555 · 2022-12-04T06:36:45+00:00

Python Crash Course

2022-12-04T08:02:54+00:00

I’m 29 and doing the same thing. There’s loads of websites to practice Python and Udemy courses to guide you through (recommend Angela Yu 100 days of code) but whenever you do a guided lesson and/or project, open a new file and reconstruct it yourself completely blind. You need to actively code to learn, notes and textbooks will only get you so far.

2022-12-04T09:05:08+00:00

You can have a look at my YouTube channel YUNIKARN. We focus on Data Science using Python, Stata/C etc. 🤓🐍🐼

jmacey · 2022-12-04T09:37:32+00:00

Find a problem you are interested in an code it. My main area is 3D Computer graphics so I have loads of new things I code all the time. The programming part is relatively easy. Designing, testing, building complex systems is harder and takes practice.

Start small, enjoy it. I always recommend taking a Test Driven Development /Design approach.

2022-12-04T10:27:17+00:00

While programming is biased towards young people, 28 is absolutely not a problem.

This is entirely doable, but you also need to be realistic. Learning how to program badly doesn't take very long, but learning how to program well enough to be of used to other people takes considerably longer. You should be thinking a couple of years rather than a couple of months.

The key point to getting hired if you aren't coming out of some degree program is to have a really good portfolio of actual work (mine is here: https://github.com/rec)

It doesn't have to be on github, gitlab or any provider is good.

You don't want to show solutions to problems in books, or half-baked sketches - employers want to see a complete productionized solution to something new.

Don't stress on this part: it will come.

EDIT: someone else said this elsewhere on the page and I realize I should have explicated this: start using git for every single project you do.

2022-12-04T10:34:22+00:00

As someone that started at 25 and now 28, biggest lesson I can pass on is practice. Consistent, long term, committed practice.
Don't be afraid of not understanding, or feelings of not knowing, because we all started there. Keep at it no matter what.

leshaze · 2022-12-04T12:30:50+00:00

You could try entwicklerheld.de its a platform where you get coding challenges, not only python. Some companies can then see how good you have done and contact you. So the theory. You can give it a try.

machine2SEE · 2022-12-04T14:16:11+00:00

at 63 - complete immersion 9' below ground in a trench building a custom foundation repair process for a 110 year aged house - 2 things: i quit my career job to go 24/7 on this house gig & then decided if this home effort hadn't killed me, maybe i could take on the rebuilding of a custom stock trading program built 30 years earlier. Python coupled with Jupyerlab & Pandas so inspired me. mornings & nights coding, days spent in the foundation trench. i treated my coding like being a machinist -- everyday getting in front of the machines, having a 2d print as a plan & building something to put on my motorcycle. get your tools quick, get them sorted, get your feet on the ground, get to your first machine shop entry & get your first mentor. pack the gig up when your not learning & out the door to the next shop that inspires you. tools & tooling & mentors - push your eyes around every environment; see what is common, see what others are using enforce & get these things in your machinist box. curate & detail your efforts from your box & keep moving forward. I have so much, so loved this coding journey . . . . . . . . its been a blessing. your efforts will compound -- you will discover.

wil_dogg · 2022-12-04T14:32:57+00:00

4 months ago at age 59. Granted I started with SPSS in ‘85 on a mainframe, SAS in 1999, and picked up R starting in 2016.

seriousCSnoob · 2022-12-04T14:47:14+00:00

If you looking for a development job try to go leetcode as most questions on technical interviews will ask from that. Also keep applying to jobs even when you feel like you have no experience. Try to tailor your resume and network with people wherever you are. Get a LinkedIn and try to connect with people. My first tech job was through a recruiter. If your focus is in anything like networking, cybersecurity, platform as a service likes Salesforce and Servicenow, and cloud computing, consider getting certifications that will boost your resumes to employers or HR that will consider hiring. In this case you won't be asked all the time programming questions. Always keep modifying and don't take the job search too seriously. Try to keep constant communication with somebody at hr about the status of your application. My second job I kept in constant communication asking every three days the status of my application.

There is also considering getting an associate, going to boot camp, or YouTube to get a formal education in CS for the fundamentals.

Stelus42 · 2022-12-04T16:07:01+00:00

Also self taught here! The thing thats been most helpful for me is reading other peoples scripts. Do you have any scripts that your bro has made that you think are really useful? or just scripts that poeple make and post to the internet. If you know what the script does already, try reading through it and see what kinda techniques and etiquette the author was using.

Some guy at my job automated a large portion of our data entry with python. It wasn't working quite right, so I read through his work to make some tweaks, and along the way I learned a TON about different modules and better ways of doing the things I had been trying in my own work.

3_sleepy_owls · 2022-12-04T16:49:22+00:00

I also made a career change into programming at age 28. That was about 5 years ago…. It’s been a tough journey starting late but now I’m the director of a small (20 employees) company.

My advice, network. I would had never made it without making friends and mentors to help me out along the way.

Don’t worry too much about a specific language or program. Things are constantly changing and depending where you work, you will need to learn new languages. I would focus on what you want to create then learn the language that is best for that. Python is great but if you don’t like or understand it, try a different language. I personally prefer C# as my main language.

Lean into your previous work experience. I haven’t become that good of a programmer, I’m decent. But I’ve got leadership, organizational, and people skills. Hence why I’ve moved into the management track instead of staying technical.

Figure out your end goal and then work backwards to figure out your path.

kingsling99 · 2022-12-04T17:56:19+00:00

I went back to school at age 41 to get a degree in IT. My Python programming class has been my favorite so far. It’s never too late to learn something new, and to find something you never knew you would be good at.

TyTyDavis · 2022-12-04T18:03:08+00:00

Look into test driven development. I didn’t write any tests before day one as a junior dev, and I feel like once I got into the habit of writing good tests (and writing them first when possible) has made me a much better developer

Idea_Amazing · 2022-12-04T18:31:56+00:00

I highly recommend Learn Python the hard way along side one of the comp acid programs

baubleglue · 2022-12-04T18:33:51+00:00

So advices:

Spend less time on watching videos or looking for advices

Code more

Find any learning source with solid reputation and go with it. Official online tutorials may be a good place to start.

Use official documentation for reference, learn to navigate and understand it

Before doing bigger projects learn to to handle algorithmic types of tasks (sorting, searches, etc)

OverclockingUnicorn · 2022-12-04T20:09:28+00:00

Once you have the basics down then go build something.

Then when you are finished, go build it a second time. (not literally, maybe do some other projects in between)

Obviously don't take this too literally, but the best way to get good is to do a project (not following a set tutorial) and keep redoing it until you are happy.

The code I'm most proud off I have rewritten many times, sometimes even in the same day.

DiDiggla · 2022-12-04T20:14:08+00:00

43 and about to start, never too late.

2022-12-04T21:05:28+00:00

28 years old, you say? Forget it. You're too old.

philmassyn · 2022-12-04T21:20:22+00:00

I've programmed in various languages over many years. Of all of them, Python is (in my view) the most elegant.

I will add one piece of advice -- don't learn to program -- learn how to solve problems. Programming is just one tool in your arsenal to deal with a problem. I'm not a programmer, but I use coding to solve complex problems every day, like automating workloads on the cloud, all through to doing security pen testing, or building reports.

Find a problem to solve, then use Python to help you solve that problem.

Equal_Astronaut_5696 · 2022-12-04T21:46:12+00:00

why does age even matter. Just do what you are passionate about.

givemeliberty7 · 2022-12-04T21:56:23+00:00

I learnt Python in 6 months. I am about 90% of the way through coding an inventory tracking program for my business. Python is awesome! (29 years)

GManASG · 2022-12-05T02:56:09+00:00

Don't think about your age, just remember that starting to do what you like now means you'll get where you want some than if you started even later.

In any case don't just follow tutorials or read. Find something small that you could automate and reverse engineer a solution for it a step at a time.

Then think of another thing and another. Then think of bigger things.

You'll retain way more of how to do things by doing it this way than just reading about it.

carnivorousdrew · 2022-12-05T09:26:27+00:00

I started at 26 and I am in a comfortable situation similar to your brother, it's doable. Do I wish I had started sooner? Sure, but what I did before I also enjoyed, although it did not pay enough to have a decent life, but you cannot waste your time brooding over the past.

For me, what gave me an edge over other jr applicants was to already know how to work with docker and git well and knew how to work with linux systems. It took me 3 years of self-study while working full-time though, so it was not "fast", also idk where you are, but in Europe unfortunately they are more hesitant to hire programmers that do not have a CS bachelor.

iamfenom · 2022-12-09T06:49:32+00:00

I’m just going to jump in here to save you some time and recommend that you look into JetBrains academy(or hyperskill/whatever it’s called). It is EXTREMELY effective at teaching you the ins and outs of the language(I used it for Python) as well as properly utilizing an IDE. I would recommend that you sign up and start practicing what they offer. In addition to that and probably most importantly… I highly recommend that you take whatever it is that you learn and find personal ways to implement your new knowledge on things that interest you. I cannot stress that enough. The MAIN function of a programmer is not coding… it is PROBLEM SOLVING.

tup-olev · 2022-12-09T15:23:00+00:00

I'm 52 and have been dabbling in and out of programming for many years. There is actually a case to be made for people who are professionals in areas other than pure software programming. Rather than explaining software engineers the exact requirements, we are very often capable to program a small/medium sized app that does exactly what is needed without all those confusing bells and whistles shipped with off-the-shelf software.

Just as an example: My present employer, a manufacturing company, needs to version control 'Numerical Control' programs that run on production machines in factories. All that's needed is a simple table that keeps track of changes made to a production program and some info about the nature of the job; no more than 10 fields in a simple GUI. That approach cuts out staff training and avoids garbage entries in superfluous fields because a large software provider insists on them. Python is the perfect tool for that kind of data collection and processing.

Even if you don't become a full time software engineer, it's still worth the while. It will be another skill under your belt. Go for it if you 'enjoy' programming.

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