At the end of September, we published material dedicated to the idea that in our difficult times it is worth thinking about such useful things as a source of additional income or even the search for a new, more relevant profession. The situation was analyzed using the example of the ease or difficulty of mastering the profession of a Fullstack developer in Python.

The main purpose of that material was to try to induce thought that it is always useful to have a backup plan (which may not even be related to IT-related topics). You can read more details here:

What’s the idea?

Due to the abundance of annoying offers, the main obstacle was the problem of choice and the fear of paying not for real knowledge, but for a “phony literacy”. I’m not kidding about importunity. Even when I was preparing the first material, I studied all the available options for online schools. He did not leave mailboxes and phones, but three offices called me back (they say, you were interested in our courses), and one wrote a letter.

Apparently, SkillFactory understands the problem, so they offered to try to take one of their courses and share your impressions. There were 4 options to choose from: programmers for Android and iOS, a tester and the profession of a FullStack developer in Python. By no means do I think that other courses are uninteresting (especially an iOS developer, since Apple says that it made its Swift programming language so easy to learn that even children can learn it), but, in my opinion, a web developer on Python – this is the most promising option. You can, of course, challenge this statement. In my weekly column, coming out on Wednesday, I will try to share some thoughts about the learning process from time to time. There it will be possible to discuss. Now I will try to explain my train of thought.

Why is FullStack a Python web developer?

My initial thought is that a potential new profession should be as versatile and widely applicable as possible.

First, the profession of a web developer itself implies not only writing code, but also, to some extent, supervising a team. A web developer, in addition to creating new services and sites on his own, is a key player in the team, coordinating the actions of the front-endrs (they do routine work to make the sites look good on all devices, typeset the layout, polish the interface, etc.) and backend vendors (responsible for collecting, processing and transmitting data to the server).

On the shoulders of a web developer is the responsibility to study the task, choose a solution, distribute instructions to the rest of the team, after which he already writes the main code of the given site or web application. And this is one of the important features of any promising profession. It’s bad if you only work with your hands, because you can always replace your hands. But finding someone who can think, make decisions and competently give instructions is much more difficult. At one time, even the Varangians were called to Russia for this reason, because there were not enough strategically thinking managers.

“The vocation of the Vikings”, Vasnetsov V.M.

The second reason that attracted me is the Python language itself. Python is a general purpose high-level programming language, which means it is versatile and can be used for almost any task. This is what can be considered the basis of its popularity. Every day, one way or another, you come across products written in Python. Not everyone knows, but even the very first Google search box was written in Python. However, even today Python remains one of the main languages ​​in Google. The company has a rule to use Python wherever possible (otherwise C ++). By the way, today any IT company uses Python – Instagram, Netflix, Sberbank, Yandex, Tinkoff. The main reason for its popularity is the relative ease of the language. As a high-level language, Python allows you to operate with semantic concepts. That is, instead of thoroughly prescribing all the variables and each step, memorizing complex syntax, you can use general commands that are understandable from the school English course – print, check, type, if, else, except. As a result, Python code is 3-5 times shorter than, for example, C ++ or Java code. Because of its simplicity, Python is called the programming language of the future. Although this statement provokes a wave of controversy.

The third reason for choosing is the general versatility of the chosen profession. Thanks to the versatility of the language, there are many more professions and applications than just a web developer. In fact, Python is applicable wherever you need to either automate something, or create a web application, or work through large amounts of data. And with the increasing digitalization of the world, big data is now everywhere, from sales to journalism. So, with the knowledge of Python, you can easily move on to the path of testers or big data analysts, who are also called data scientists. Interestingly, although web developers and data scientists seem to be different professions, they are similar, as they imply the presence of strategic and analytical thinking, the ability to think with algorithms and knowledge of universal programming languages.

A couple of words about FullStack Python web developer income

This is the fourth reason for the choice, which I decided to highlight in a separate subheading, since, after all, an increase in income is generally the original reason why you are reading this material.

Along the way, it is important to consider the general prospects of the profession. For example, in 2015, a junior specialist with 1-2 years of experience could count on a median salary of 60 thousand rubles in Moscow. According to HeadHunter, today a specialist with similar experience receives 100-120 thousand rubles.

If we talk about advanced specialists, then the conversation starts from 180 thousand rubles. But when talking about senior developers, keep in mind that Python allows you to look for work abroad as well. For example, in Germany, the payment of a qualified entry-level specialist starts at 3 euros, that is, 400 rubles. An ordinary developer earns 300 euros per year. And working remotely, it is quite good to live on a German salary in Russia.

Speaking of income, it’s important to note that there is a fairly high demand for freelance developers. The development of basic small projects – to think over a bot for Telegram, to help create a form for processing data – is estimated at 3-7 thousand rubles. This can be used for side earnings, and to build a portfolio of projects.

In my opinion, Python is only the first step. Having mastered the language, you can already apply for the position of data scientist. And in this category, the average salary level only starts from 170 thousand rubles. Advanced specialists receive over 250 rubles.

Acquaintance with the course

Armed with something like this, I began the course. I can’t say that I rushed into battle with a dashing whoop and hooting. Every month I have more than 20 materials published on the site, plus part-time jobs and because of family troubles the last few months, constant trips to St. Petersburg, and my personal life also says that I do not devote enough time to it (and I thought I did! ). So the prospect of setting aside a couple more hours every day for training was not very encouraging. In short, I got down to business, lying down in the compartment of the train to Petersburg, and once again skimmed over what exactly they were going to teach me.

I was given access to my personal account, in which modules for study will be displayed as I progress. At the moment, as you can see in the illustration below, there are two modules available – an introduction, which must be studied up to November 5, inclusive, and “Introduction to Python” (until November 12).

Even when I was doing the first material and looking for impressions of the past courses, I read a review where the guy thoroughly tells how and what he studied, and concludes with the thought that in SkillFactory everything is without cheating and will teach everything that is promised, but on condition that you you will diligently go through all the tasks, listen to and read all the lectures and watch webinars… I readily believe it, because statistics say that 40 to 80% of students drop out of online courses.

The entire first module focuses on motivation and learning approaches to help you avoid failure. I want to share with you a couple of universal things that will be useful in any business.

If you have a marketing background, you are probably familiar with the way SMART goals are formulated. This formulation means that the goal should be specific (Specific), measurable (Mesuarable), achievable (Achievable), relevant (Relevant), limited in time (Time bound), the first letters get the acronym SMART.

Let’s try together to make a SMART goal “Get a new job and get a big salary”… How could it sound?

• What exactly do I want to achieve? – I want to get a job as a Python developer.
• How to measure the achievement of the goal? – My new salary is at least 2 times higher than the previous one.
• What can be done to achieve it? – Take the course “Fullstack Python developer” and find a new job.
• When will I reach my goal? – In a year and five months.
• How will I make sure I’m on the right track? – I will update my resume once a month, add my new skills and knowledge to it, apply for vacancies.

The SMART technique is suitable for everything from training in the gym to planning a vacation.

Online learning has a plus: you can teach anywhere. So, I started to study in the train compartment, and continued at an early breakfast in a cafe. But the main problem is that if there is no habit of learning constantly, then it may seem that the problem is lack of time. Accordingly, the main priority task is to overcome yourself and make training regular. Again, the exercise analogy works great. Due to the coronavirus, I stopped going to the gym, and it took me unrealistic efforts to start doing regular push-ups in the morning and going to the horizontal bars and the basketball court in the evening. By the way, if you are told that a habit will develop and it will become easy, then do not believe it. Now, when it gets dark early and it rains, every day I go through the same tossing, when an inner voice whispers about a Netflix subscription and about a packet of chips hidden for a rainy day.

If you are going to take the course, then do not miss the “Introduction”, as the developers try to collect from you as much information as possible, which, firstly, will allow you to clarify your goals, and secondly, will help when communicating with the course curators.

By the way, about the curators and generally about who to ask questions. All communication is supposed to be conducted in the Slack messenger (and even a separate section is devoted to how to install, configure and what communication rules). The course has several people responsible for your educational experience – a curator, methodologist and mentor + also technical support. I think most often you will have to communicate with a mentor, since you can ask him according to training materials. Plus there is a general thread group, where it is recommended to ask questions. Thus, you can establish communication with the rest of the participants, and see what others are asking.

I would like to note right away that the course is designed for everyone. If you are familiar with some concepts, then the sections can simply be skimmed through, but for those who have not been interested in the subject before, they will be told in an accessible form what Frontend and Backend are, how the network infrastructure works (what is a DNS server, how are TCP protocols / IP and what happens after you call a taxi in the application or order lunch delivery), why you need and how business analytics works (and why in the modern IT world, even such a trivial thing as changing the color of a button in an application does not happen just).

It may seem that all this is easy and simple and not conducive to the cause. However, in fact, the task of the introductory modules is to help you get morally comfortable, get involved in the process, learn new vocabulary and see the whole picture. Well, then the process of learning Python and other wisdom begins directly.

For example, the next module, Introduction to Python, which I hope to finish next week, promises that I can already write simple programs. I’ll try to share something with you on Wednesday in my column, where you can also ask questions. In general, of course, all questions can be asked SkillFactory.

In conclusion, I will emphasize once again what the SkillFactory promises upon completion of the course. The program of the course “Profession of a Fullstack developer in Python” is designed so that in 15 months it is possible to master the basic 20 types of tools necessary for a future web developer in XNUMX months.

During the training, SkillFactory promise that I:

• learn to program in Python and JavaScript;
• I will master Django, React, SQL, and also get acquainted with DevOps practices and Linux basics;
• we will create 7 end-to-end and 1 final project that can be added to the portfolio;
• improve soft skills;
• I will learn how to look for projects on freelance exchanges and interact with the customer;
• Well, the most interesting thing is that by the end of the training there will be a ready-made portfolio. And the best students are generally promised to find jobs.

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