A first programming course built around finishing things. Every session ends with something that runs.
By the end you will have written a handful of small programs that do actual work — renaming a folder of files, pulling numbers out of a spreadsheet, calling a web API — and you will understand the code you wrote.
Jobs this leads towards
Real roles people do after this course and the ones that follow it.
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Junior software developer
Python is one of the most used languages in the industry.
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Data analyst
Python is how analysts clean and chart data at scale.
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Automation / scripting in any IT job
Turning a boring repeated task into a script is a superpower in every office.
Certifications
What this course prepares you to sit. Exam vouchers are included.
- PCEP (Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer)
Is this for me?
Ninety seconds, no wrong answers, nothing recorded. It tells you how closely this course matches what you enjoy — and where to look if it does not.
What a week looks like
Day to day, so nobody is surprised.
- Two hours a week: half explanation, half doing it on a real dataset.
- Each week ends with a chart, a script or a result you can show somebody.
- You use AI tools every session, and you check what they get wrong.
- A small project of your own choosing for the last three weeks.
Three questions from week one
Get them wrong and you belong here. Get them right and you belong here too. Nothing is recorded.
Books worth having
None of these is required — the course lends what it needs. These are the ones worth owning.
-
Automate the Boring Stuff with Python
Al Sweigart
Free to read online; the course uses several chapters.
Find it ↗
What to bring
Usually nothing. Where something small helps, it is here.
- ▸Nothing to buy: free tools throughout.
- ▸A free account on Kaggle for datasets.
- ▸A notebook for questions you want the data to answer.
Do this at home
Between sessions. Ten to twenty minutes; the people who do this are the ones who finish.
- Habit 1Write a script that renames every file in a folder.
- Habit 2Solve one problem a day on exercism.org's Python track.
- Habit 3Automate one boring thing in your week — really automate it.
What you will be able to do
- Read and write Python with variables, conditions, loops and functions
- Work with files, lists and dictionaries
- Call a web API and do something with the response
- Debug your own code instead of starting over
- Automate a repetitive task end to end
What you will use
- Python 3
- VS Code
- Git
What the course covers
The lesson plan for this course is being written. Register and we will tell you the moment it opens.