May 15, 2020

Leveling Up Your Python Literacy and Finding Python Projects to Study

1 hour 16 minutes

In your quest to become a better developer, how do you find Python code that is at your reading level? What are good code bases or projects to study? What are the things holding you back from leveling up your Python literacy? This week we have Cecil Phillip on the show to discuss all of these common questions. Cecil is a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft.

Cecil has been learning Python in the open on Twitch with Brian Clark. They run a weekly event on Twitch, where they are live-streaming an interactive Python course. Cecil has a background in multiple languages and technologies, and now he’s learning Python, bringing an audience along the way!

We start things off with a listener question and jump into a conversation about building up your Python skills. Then we’ll discuss common Python language stumbling blocks. Next we consider the importance of making personal projects, and documenting that code.

We also touch on some unique skills employers are looking for. And we discuss working through impostor syndrome. Cecil talks about his podcast “Away from the Keyboard” and his plans to start it back up.

In the show notes this week you’ll find links to resources we discuss, and several more that we didn’t have time to cover individually.

Want your question featured on the show? Send us your question at realpython.com/podcast-question and we might feature it on a future episode of the show.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:52 – Cecil’s role at Microsoft

00:03:35 – Twitch Stream with Brian Clark

00:05:07 – Learning in front of an audience

00:13:05 – Listener’s question

00:14:46 – Finding code that’s at your level

00:20:31 – Understanding more complex syntax in Python

00:23:40 – Breaking down complexity

00:29:17 – Translation of code

00:31:55 – Importance of making projects and comments

00:36:28 – Finding community

00:41:23 – Open source contributing

00:42:25 – Dealing with impostor syndrome

00:49:09 – Looking for that first position

01:00:58 – More project resources in show notes

01:02:55 – Cecil’s podcast - Away from the keyboard

01:08:29 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?

01:10:14 – What is something you thought you knew about Python but were wrong about it?

01:12:01 – What’s the next thing you want to learn in Python?

01:13:37 – Read the actual Python docs

01:15:24 – Thanks and goodbye

Show links:

Microsoft Developer Channel

Cecil Phillip’s Twitter

Cecil’s Github

Microsoft Developer Twitch

Official Microsoft Python Discord

Away from the Keyboard: Podcast

Python Decorators 101: Real Python video course

Python Type Checking: Real Python video course

13 Project Ideas for Intermediate Python Developers: Real Python article