Learning has to be comfortable to you for you to succeed, and we all have different methods of learning which each of us swears to. I am in no way discrediting any methods of studying, I am only giving my opinion after various trial and error stages in the hope of helping like-minded people succeed in their paths. I hope you enjoy this article and the comment section is always free and open for us to share ideas on this topic.

In December 2021, I made a resolution that I will be learning Python to add it to my stack of programming languages. Fast track to today, I can say that I’m in a better place than where I was three months ago. Am I a pro Pythonista now? That’s a big call for sure, I am still very far from achieving my Python programming goals, but I can say, I have grasped some fundamentals. Now I can lay out a simple project structure and execute it painstakingly together with my reliable friend Google. That said, learning never ends, even the seasoned coding experts can affirm that statement.

The journey so far

I started as any other coding newbie would by writing a ‘Hello World’ statement from the introductory lessons of W3Schools. Having studied an array of programming languages, I could see how Python’s syntax was more beginner-friendly. I was able to brush through the fundamentals, but a sudden shift came in when I was scrolling through Twitter one day. I was met with a BootCamp announcement tweet from Data Science East Africa and Lux Academy, offering a free three week Python mentorship program. I felt like it was a calling since I was on this journey of learning Python. The three weeks are over now as I’m posting this and this was an experience that made me change my approach to mastering Python, the right way.

Mastering Python, the right way

This is no huge secret to anyone willing to improve their coding skills, whether it is in programming or even other career fields. Project-based learning is the answer. I cannot emphasize enough how this has been beneficial to me and to everyone who attended the program.

I am a testament to different learning approaches, and I can say that project-based learning has been able to cut my study time significantly. I was anticipating it to take at least some months to get done with the Python fundamentals but at the moment, I have worked on some projects and articles in the three weeks, something I wouldn’t even dream of achieving.

Executing the plan

Project-based learning is a learning method whereby you get to gain knowledge while solving a real-life problem. This is literally killing two birds with one stone. At the end of it, you will have the experience and a project to back it.

The Python community is a great place to be if you are willing to go through this route. You can always start by getting an outline of the various fundamental topics required to be skilled in the language. This will help you tick every topic you learn while undertaking the projects. There are those base units of a language like variables, comments and data types that would take a short time to be familiar with. Now you are ready to execute basic projects as you level up. You can begin by searching for a simple project built using Python, after that, work on a similar idea and then move to the next level, from there it is just a rinse and repeat process. You can also fine-tune your search to suit your learning requirements.

Don’t forget to always comment on your code. It will help everybody who will be interacting with your code, including yourself. Also, a well organized and structured code is one of the best practices to have in mind.

Bonus points

If you were keen enough, you would have seen that I talked about article writing. Yes, this has been one of my favourite hobbies recently. Another thing that has helped me in my learning journey is the push from peer learning communities. I am not that great at writing articles but through the guidance of the Lux Academy community, I have been able to share my knowledge online in the hope of helping someone out there.

Drawing from that, it is wise for one to be active in the coding community and always strive to give back and you’ll get more. The coding community is one of the warm-hearted groups and there isn’t ridicule, discrimination or stereotypes. I wish you well in your coding journey.