From zero to developer: My Python story
With this post, I'd like to start a series of series about how I'm learning Python and getting closer to work.
It all started when I got interested in creating software for a job where I currently work (Internet marketing). There were a lot of routine, monotonous activities in my job that could be simplified with programming.
The first thing I started doing was writing bookmarklets for the browser in JavaScript. A couple of books I had read on object-oriented programming helped me with that because I already understood the logic of the code. I was familiar with things like variables, loops, conditions, and so on.
This went on for about a year, and from time to time I wrote scripts for myself, and I used them successfully. At work they appreciated my eagerness and gave me a small Python course, as my knowledge could help the whole department.
I found the course itself boring: not because of Python, but because of the lecturer. He has a very incomprehensible teaching method. I decided to figure it out on my own with the help of YouTube and StackOverFlow.
The first program I decided to write was a text generator for https://5vulkanvegas.com/ro from already existing chunks of sentences (yes, we sometimes needed that).
When I sat down to write it, I had only just gotten to the for and while loops. But what I wanted was a desktop application that anyone could install.
I had to go into the process and got acquainted with the tkinter GUI. After watching a short lecture series (3 hours) I already knew how to create a desktop application, how to place elements in it, how to create buttons, assign commands to them and so on. At the end of the lecture series, the task was to make a calculator.
While writing it, I ran into a couple of problems, which were kindly explained to me on stackoverflow. And not just solved the problem for me, but explained why this happened to me and how to avoid it in the future.
Now I have planned a project on a larger scale: I want to create a database on my site, in which the department will work with data: mark used data, enter new data, and so on. I already know that I need to deal with Django, SQL and the frontend.
The next post will be about how I did this work.
Lastly I wanted to say that there's nothing wrong with learning. If you really want to learn, it doesn't matter what experience you had before or how old you are.
There's a lot of useful and important information on the Internet right now to help you get started on your exciting journey as a developer.
Share your first programs and how you started as a developer in the comments :)
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