I wonder how I can make my first money and when I know that I am ready? And what to do?

[Diddie]

So since a few months I study Python on the side and got the basic understanding down. Even did a few projects in the course.

Now I would like to know what to focus on next? I want to make money (duh), but maybe one the freelance market. Unfortunately I am sometimes disconnected from the internet for days due to travelling and this disqualifies me from working for a corp.

I try hard to find different income, but there is nothing online for unskilled people.

So how do I know I am ready? Do you have projects, or types of projects, that I can try myself on, the type I would be able to find "in the wild"? I know I am a beginner, and I don't expect to make thousands overnight. But a small 20 dollar project here or a 100 dollar project there...

I know of all these modules out there but don't know which one is best to study to get my first jobs?

I mean experience has to come from somewhere, right? Just because I recently lost my transcription job(and don't find replacement) doesn't mean I give up. 😅

Lacking knowledge, but the ambitions are high. Shouldn't be impossible!

 

[BorkedSystem32]

Advance your knowledge of the fundamentals of Python: "basics" can sometimes be vague. Do you know about classes/objects and their relationships? How to write your own functions and modules? What about dictionaries/lists? It's important that you know and understand all of the fundamentals of a language before getting any deeper into it.

Once you have covered the fundamentals, learn what you can do with the language. Python has a vast collection of APIs, libraries, and frameworks, so take advantage and learn the ones needed for your interests(so, if you like machine-learning for example, you might want to learn TensorFlow).

From there, make some projects. Automation systems, compile data into graphs, render your own graphics, build a website - the possibilities are endless(especially with Python). Projects will help you practice your skills and put your knowledge to the test. You don't even need to build your own: you can contribute to open-source projects that use Python(or even contribute to the language itself).

Do not focus on earning thousands of money. Software-development is, from my knowledge, quite a saturated market despite all the talk of "you should get a job in computing". Competition for jobs, junior and senior, are high, especially if you go into more niche areas like embedded systems. While you can earn a lot, you obviously need to work for it. Don't walk into an office expecting to write a few lines or fix a couple of bugs and expect to be paid handsomely by the end of the month. You need to prove you're a good programmer who can write good code that is easily maintainable.

I have no idea what the freelance market for software-development is like, so you'll need to look into that. Other than that: don't do programming if you're doing it for money and don't have the passion. Like any job, you need to have passion if you want to be happy with the work you're doing. Don't show that passion and you won't get anywhere with the work.

 

[Diddie]

Okay, but at what point do I know that I am ready for work? And yeah, I do know about all of that. It's just - I don#t know what I want to do from here on. See I said to myself: You need to learn something that allows you to work location independently, so coding seems like a good option, and then researched the languages and picked python (after every programmer told me THEIR language is the best and most useful, and I never even scratched anything off the list of possibilities haha).

Anyway. I didn't roll it up the other way around and said "I want to go into machine learning, what language is best for that?".

So now I have the basics, but I don't know what's a sensible direction from here. What is the best thing to learn in Python to get employment relatively quickly now? Later on I can always reorientate myself, once I have some experience and found out if I like it or not. But as of right now, I have sensory overload. Too much to pick from again, and there is a path for everything.

About the passion thing: I can't be passionate about everything, and the things, that I am, are not very lucrative or don't allow me to live my life the way I want to. So I chose to become a programmer to make enough money to support myself while I travel. You don't need passion for everything you do, and all I want is 1000 dollars a month. That is my goal. Everything beyond that would be just amazing.

 

[BorkedSystem32]

I get that becoming a programmer seems like a way to make easy money, but isn't. Especially if it's freelance you're planning on doing. Where if you're working in a team and there will be people to write the code, people to test, people to design the software, people to manage the distribution, etc. - that's all on you if you do freelance. And clients will expect you to be competent in all of these areas.

Python as I said, has hundreds of different libraries and frameworks. If you're going based off of the market trends and not your interests, you'll need to look on StackOverflow, Indeed, LinkedIn, etc. to see what employers want. This could be Flask or Django for a website, Num/SciPy for numerical computations, TensorFlow for AI, or even just for use in system automation.

There is no way of telling if you're ready for work. That's really up to you to decide how confident you are. Others will have higher or lower standards, so it would be harder to go off the analysis of others.

Perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic here, but unless you're really into computers and programming, I wouldn't bother with getting a job in the field. The market is over saturated with graduates and seniors who are all fighting to get one job. But that's just me and my opinion. Do it if you want. Nobody's stopping you.

 

[Diddie]

Sorry, this "You have to be passionate to work" thing is just unrealistic. Barely anyone works in a field they are passionate about. I am passionate about my lifestyle, and this is just how I can make it work.

Stop telling people to reconsider their decisions, this is purely your philosophy.

Anyway. Thanks for the answer. Would have loved a little more detail on what is "in" right now and what I could focus on, but I can't have it all, eh?

 

[null_reflections]

So since a few months I study Python on the side and got the basic understanding down. Even did a few projects in the course.

Now I would like to know what to focus on next? I want to make money (duh), but maybe one the freelance market. Unfortunately I am sometimes disconnected from the internet for days due to travelling and this disqualifies me from working for a corp.

I try hard to find different income, but there is nothing online for unskilled people.

So how do I know I am ready? Do you have projects, or types of projects, that I can try myself on, the type I would be able to find "in the wild"? I know I am a beginner, and I don't expect to make thousands overnight. But a small 20 dollar project here or a 100 dollar project there...

I know of all these modules out there but don't know which one is best to study to get my first jobs?

I mean experience has to come from somewhere, right? Just because I recently lost my transcription job(and don't find replacement) doesn't mean I give up. 😅

Lacking knowledge, but the ambitions are high. Shouldn't be impossible!

You are way too focused on the financial/career aspect of coding. If you like the job you already have, learning to become a professional programmer is going to take longer because you won't have as much time as you would if you were just a jobless student in school with great ambitions. I run into this problem a lot, because even though i have a lot of programming knowledge, how to translate this into money still feels somewhat foreign to me, and i have a separate means of income that i can't just dispense of very easily.

Python is a flexible language and i have seen people talk about it positively for the fallowing things:

-data manipulation for scientific purposes

-video games

-back end to web-based programs, I've read that Netflix is very python dependent

If you keep practicing and learning, then you will appreciate the results if that's what you really want to do. If you want to learn how to make video games, you should also probably check out how to make games in HTML, CSS, and Javascript. You need to be more specific about what you are doing if you want to get into the money, or do anything bigger/grander than some basic coding exercise that nobody will pat you on the back about. However, you don't need to do everything all at once, and you shouldn't feel ashamed of wherever you are at.

Sorry, this "You have to be passionate to work" thing is just unrealistic. Barely anyone works in a field they are passionate about. I am passionate about my lifestyle, and this is just how I can make it work.

That doesn't really matter, it's just another thing to consider. You will not always be passionate about coding, and coding isn't enough to make money in the end. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates got rich/famous because they were passionate about money, not because they were interesting people or made themselves particularly useful to others. Your chances of getting that wealthy are basically slim to none...so YES, if you are set on learning coding, find a way to make it interesting and useful to yourself and others, use the things you are passionate about as motivation. I've found that the best thing about coding is to enjoy finding solutions, solving puzzles, and learning. The graphical aspect is a whole separate matter, but if you combine both you will probably get the most out of it.

Good luck!

 

[quintanbarnes]

Okay, but at what point do I know that I am ready for work? And yeah, I do know about all of that. It's just - I don#t know what I want to do from here on. See I said to myself: You need to learn something that allows you to work location independently, so coding seems like a good option, and then researched the languages and picked python (after every programmer told me THEIR language is the best and most useful, and I never even scratched anything off the list of possibilities haha).

Anyway. I didn't roll it up the other way around and said "I want to go into machine learning, what language is best for that?".

So now I have the basics, but I don't know what's a sensible direction from here. What is the best thing to learn in Python to get employment relatively quickly now? Later on I can always reorientate myself, once I have some experience and found out if I like it or not. But as of right now, I have sensory overload. Too much to pick from again, and there is a path for everything.

About the passion thing: I can't be passionate about everything, and the things, that I am, are not very lucrative or don't allow me to live my life the way I want to. So I chose to become a programmer to make enough money to support myself while I travel. You don't need passion for everything you do, and all I want is 1000 dollars a month. That is my goal. Everything beyond that would be just amazing.


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It's understandable to feel unsure about the next steps, especially when considering a career shift towards coding. Python is indeed a versatile language with numerous applications, especially in fields like web development, data analysis, and automation. It's great that you've done your research and chosen a language that aligns with your goals of working location independently.