DEV Community

Cover image for Guide to Become a Python Developer
Tarun Saini
Tarun Saini

Posted on • Edited on

Guide to Become a Python Developer

In the past few years, the popularity of Python as a programming language has grown exponentially leading to the increase in demand for Python-based jobs in the market. This will bound to lead people to wonder ‘How To Become A Python Developer’. In this blog, I will walk you through the structured approach, career insights, and skills required to become a python developer.
But the question which still lingers is who is a python developer and what are the things that he does. Python being a tool of choice for many things and domains, there is no concrete definition for python developer as such. A Python developer can be a Web developer, Software Engineer, Data Analyst, Data Scientist or an Automation tester, etc. and hence a Python developer can be any one of the above by simply taking the data science with python training.

Python Application
Python has gained a lot of popularity as a programming language since 2018. Ease of access and increased demand is intriguing enough to become a Python developer. The demand caters well for job openings and being the one with the in-demand skills would help you stand out among the crowd. Python programming language has many features that make developers switch to Python over other programming languages. Easy syntax and readability make learning Python a lot easier.

Features Of Python
Google, NASA, IBM, Walt Disney, Netflix, YouTube are a few of the prominent companies that use Python programming language.
A python developer gets paid really well in today’s industry. The range of pay may vary depending on the exact nature of the job they are involved in. You can enroll for any data science with python certification courses available in the market.
Average Annual Salary
Apart from that one can also build this skill set by doing the list of things mentioned below. The list is not exhaustive, but these are some of the common things which we find established python programmers and developers started with.

BUILD YOUR OWN GITHUB REPOSITORY

GitHub is an IT service management organization that provides hosting for software development and version control using Git. GitHub offers its basic services free of charge. Its more advanced professional and enterprise services are commercial. Free GitHub accounts are commonly used to host open-source projects.
As of January 2020, GitHub reports having over 40 million users and more than 100 million repositories (including at least 28 million public repositories), making it the largest host of source code in the world.
Github’s interface is easy and you can quickly learn how to build projects and store it as a repository. Add your Python projects and practice work to your GitHub repository. Even if it is just a simple code you wrote or an existing code that you have made minor changes.
GitHub Repository
Your GitHub repository lends credibility to your resume when you are interviewing for a position as a python developer. Recruiters can look at it on the developer platform instead of you needing to send samples of your work in zip files.
There are many people on GitHub who have unique and organized styles of coding. One of the best ways to develop your coding style is to learn from other Python developers. Look at other codes that are similar to your skill level to get an idea of what different styles are out there.

UNDERSTAND CODING BEST PRACTICES

For the beginners, this may not sound important but this is often not the case. When you display your work, it bears your signature in the way codes are written. One of the important properties of good code is readability and understandability. Experts can very well distinguish okay kinds of codes from the best-written codes and hence this can give a good impression to anyone who is going through your code or trying to understand your work.
It is also seen that most of the python developers often tend to implement coding best practices at some point during the learning curve. So, instead of doing it at a later point in time why not we start this when we begin to learn.
Fortunately, there are guidelines available to help you write readable code, including PEP 8 style guidelines. This guideline can be very handy in starting to build a good set of codes. Some of the important properties mentioned are indentation, tabs, and spaces, maximum line length, line breaks, blank lines, white spaces in expressions, trailing commas, naming convention

READING BOOKS ON PYTHON PROGRAMMING

Even if you are an experienced Python developer, there is always something new to learn. And you will find plenty of new material in Python coding books. The more you know, the more your confidence increases. Some of the good best include ‘Fluent Python’, ‘Python Cookbook’,’Automate the boring stuff with Python’, and ‘Effective Python'.

GROW YOUR PYTHON SKILLS

If you want a reliable way to enhance your Python experience and stay competitive, grow your skillset. In addition to reading books on the subject, you should understand how to work with some of the following Python libraries. Some of the job roles mentioned below can give you a very good idea about the things you can do/will be done using python and along with that the libraries that would be used.

  1. Software Developer/Engineer A software developer/engineer must be well versed with core python, web frameworks, object-relational mappers. They should have an understanding of multi-process architecture and RESTful APIs to integrate applications with other components. Front-end development skills and database knowledge are a few nice to have skills for a software developer. Writing python scripts and system administration is also an add on when you are aiming to become a software developer.
  2. Python Web Developer A Python web developer is required to write server-side web logic. They should be familiar with web frameworks and HTML and CSS which are the foundation stones for web development. Good database knowledge and writing python scripts are a nice to have skill. Libraries like Tkinter for GUI based web applications is a must. Master all these skills and you have become a python web developer. There are a lot of courses available online like web development with python which can help you acquire the related skills.
  3. Automation Testing Engineer Programming skills are like a foundation stone for any automation test engineer. Selenium web driver and all related technologies are a must. As an automation engineer, you are expected to identify software processes for automation. They are required to design and execute automation scripts that will check the functionality of the processes, They also develop testing strategies and frameworks for automation. There are a lot of courses available online like automation engineers with python which can help you acquire the related skills.
  4. Data Analyst A data analyst is required to carry out data interpretation and analysis. They should be well versed in mathematics and statistics. Python libraries like NumPy, pandas, matplotlib, seaborn, etc are used for data visualization and manipulation of data, and hence learning python can be boon here as well. There are a lot of courses available online like a data analyst with python training, a data analyst with python certification.
  5. Data Scientist A data scientist must have a thorough knowledge of data analysis, interpretation, manipulation, mathematics, and statistics in order to help in the decision-making process. They also have to be masters in Machine learning and AI with all the machine learning algorithms like regression analysis, classification algorithms, and unsupervised algorithms. A data scientist must be familiar with libraries like TensorFlow, scikit-learn, etc thoroughly. A data scientist is going to fulfill roles that involve all-round development. There are a lot of courses available online like data science with python training, data science with python certification.
  6. Machine Learning Engineer Machine learning engineers must understand the deep learning concepts, neural network architecture, and machine learning algorithms on top of mathematics and statistics. A machine learning engineer must be proficient enough in algorithms like gradient descent, regression analysis, and building prediction models. A machine learning engineer is expected to work beyond just mere programming. They are required to make a machine perform a specific task. A machine learning engineer utilizes the creativity and channelizes it to implement state of the art applications. There are a lot of courses available online like machine learning with python training, machine learning with python certification.
  7. AI engineer An AI engineer must have programming skills, knowledge of Data Science concepts and Data Modelling concepts. Deep learning and Neural network understanding is a must as well. An AI engineer is expected to program the computers to think like a human mind, or how a human would react to that particular situation. All this happens through a cognitive simulation. The common tasks would include reasoning, knowledge representation, natural language processing, and general intelligence. There are a lot of courses available online like artificial intelligence with python training, artificial intelligence with python certification.

MAKE OPEN SOURCE CONTRIBUTIONS

Making contributions to Github repositories and their associated projects can also help to learn this skill. The learners may not be able to relate to this, but over a period of time and after gaining some amount of confidence and fluency in python this activity could be something that could be easily attempted. This practice shows that you have what it takes to be a team player by adding value to existing work.
Some popular open-source Python projects you can contribute to includes

  • Pipenv: Python development workflow for Humans
  • Statistics: Python scripts to parse your Messenger, Hangouts, and Telegram Chat Logs into DataFrames
  • Som-tcp: Solving the Traveling Salesman Problem using Self-Organizing Maps
  • Py2bpf: A python to bpf (Berkeley Packet Filter) converter

BUILD YOUR LEARNING SCHEDULE

Develop a habit of spending some time to go through python related articles and also implement things which have been learned on a daily or weekly basis. Writing the codes can help a lot in understanding the things which need a rework as you might face some issues while you build those codes. For the beginners, even writing and following worked out examples can help a lot. One should try to understand the intent of the codes and also the logic behind it. At the same time, the libraries used in that piece of code could also be explored.

UPDATE YOUR PROFILE

In today’s digital age there are a lot of avenues using which prospective employer can reach out to you. Make sure your presence is felt in those job portals in the best possible manner. Link the work that you have done to your profile so that recruiters can notice.
Get the best applied data science with python training.

Top comments (0)