Code First Girls: Python Course Review!

For the last 8 weeks I have been taking the Code First Girls Spring 2018 Python course, hosted by IG. This is a free course for women who are students or recent graduates with the aim to encourage more women to get into programming and tech careers. These courses are hosted all over the UK, sponsored by various companies and universities.

There are currently 3 different courses you can do: Beginner front-end programming, intermediate Python and intermediate Ruby. I picked the IG London python course. This was for a few reasons – firstly I had done some front-end programming before so thought the beginners course might not teach me that much new. Also I have been intending on learning Python for a while now – I’ve had Spyder downloaded on my computer since Christmas with the intention of learning how to do statistical analysis in Python the same way as in R, however I’ve never quite got round to it. Therefore this seemed like a great opportunity to learn the basics of Python and get started. The advantage of doing a class (instead of trying to teach yourself online) is that you have a set time every week to focus on learning with professional teachers to help you when you get stuck and cover the details you might miss on your own. I often get distracted trying to learn things at home and overwhelmed by the amount of different courses and learning resources available. Finally I chose the IG course because it was the nearest to my work and I could walk there easily after work – very convenient for me !