Federico Trotta - from Medium

July the 15th

To learn Python on the side you need to create an effective routine

Hey friend,

if you're learning Python on the side and struggling to find the right time to do so, I definitely understand you.

Maybe you're an employee who's trying to change career. Or maybe you're a University student who tries to enrich your knowledge to become more "appealable" to companies.

It doesn't matter the specific situation you're in: what you need is an effective routine.

I started learning Python when I was 30 years old with a full-time job and a family.

But you know what? Getting up at 5.00 a.m. and having a cold shower, as Internet gurus would tell you, is not the solution to your problem. Especially for folks like me who have young children: if you don't sleep at night, you definitely can't get up at 5 a.m.

So, what's the solution? Is it to wait until your children become old enough to make you sleep? Is it to wait until you graduate so that you have time?

Not at all! I learned that waiting for the perfect time is not the solution, so I developed an effective routine myself.

I'll describe it to you, but consider that you may have to make some changes that make it more adaptable to your personal needs:

1. Define your goal(s). Why are you studying Python? Because if you're studying just for the sake of learning, I'm afraid you won't last long.
   Finding time to learn and practice on the side of other stuff is very hard, so you need to have a goal and high motivation. For example, getting a better paid and remote job to be more present with your family is a good goal (spoiler: it was also mine!).
2. Schedule time to learn/practice daily. This is very important: you have to schedule some time to dedicate to Python every day. If you can't wake up at 5 a.m., then schedule some time after dinner. If you need 2 hours of commuting and don't have time even after dinner, listen to podcasts during commuting or watch youtube videos if you don't drive.
   Also, decide how much daily time to dedicate to it. If you can dedicate 20 minutes, it's ok. Just schedule it and try to stick to doing so every day, at the same time: you'll discover the power of routines, believe me.
3. Apply your learning whenever you can. If you're working on an office job, try to use your Python learnings on your current job. For example: can you automate some of your daily tasks with Python to save time? Try to Google something that sticks to automate some of your daily tasks, and see what pops up. Then, create a project to learn how to use Python to do so.
   Also, do you use Excel spreadsheets? Good! Try to use Python to analyze some of the data or to automate some of your Excel stuff.
   Are you studying at University? Good! I'm sure you need a lot of information from the Internet. So, why don't you try a web-scraping project to retrieve some info from the web?
4. Schedule the subject to focus on in advance. One of the superpowers of routines is that, once established, you go on autopilot. What I mean is that one of the things I've struggled with the most was that when the scheduled time to learn arrived, I still had to decide what to study/practice. This is a big mistake because it's likely you'll spend a lot of time deciding what to do, wasting all the time you scheduled to learn/practice.
   So, instead, schedule in advance what to study/practice and use a tool. For example, I use an agenda. In the evenings I write down what I'll do tomorrow and leave the agenda open on my desktop: this way, the next day I know exactly what to concentrate on.
5. Cut some time from weekends. This is hard, I know. But if you want to grow in a matter of months, you'll have to cut some time from weekends. You may need just a couple of hours on Saturdays and Sundays if you want to grow in a matter of months, but it's something you must do for a while (then, when you'll reach your goal, you can stop it and relax on weekends :) ).
6. Become obsessed. I have to tell you a harsh truth: gurus on the Internet will tell you that you just need a routine and a cold shower to get to your goals, but unfortunately is not like that. Is not that people get a cold shower at 5 a.m. and magically have time (and the willingness) to practice Python just because of the cold shower.
   The reality is that you need to be obsessed.
   You need to think every single minute about how you can improve your Python skill, even when you're doing your actual job or you're studying for your University exams.
   Mastering Python must become your only thought. You have to think about how to learn it, how to learn it better, how to learn it faster. But you also need to be pleased by that.
   Do you love solving coding challenges? Do you love error handling? Do you love making predictions with Machine Learning?
   Good! You have to be excited when the time you've scheduled to learn/practice arrives, because you need to be pleased with what you're doing. Otherwise, I'm afraid you will throw the sponge soon or later. Believe me. And it's not bad: it just means that this wasn't a path for you because you don't truly love it.
   If you're learning Python to change your career and you're not enjoying what you're doing, how do you believe you could possibly like your future job? Yes, I know: you could work remotely and for a very high salary, but how in the world would you enjoy your daily activities if you don't like them now?

So, now you have all the tools you need to create your routine to effectively learn Python and change your career, if this is your goal.

And let me tell you one thing: becoming obsessed is the most important point on the list. Believe me. Loving what you do will give all the motivation you need when you feel tired and don't want to attend your daily practice time (yes! There are days like so. I still have some, of course. But obsession really helps me!)

If you remember what we said in the last email, you can reach your goal even after six months. Of course, we're talking about an entry-level job, but who cares? The important is to reach your goal in the minimum time possible.

Finally, don't underestimate networking: this is your best friend to find a job ASAP, often without attending any recruiting process.

But we'll talk about that in the future...

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MY LATEST ARTICLES

Here're the articles I published this week:

• In the last few days, I had dependency issues with Python and Anaconda. I struggled a lot with that, so I wrote an article on Towards Data Science where I show my solution: read it here.

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That's all for this week.

Have a lovely weekend,

Federico

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