My Path to Python

autonomousAJ — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 02:04:46 +0000

5 years ago today, I finally found “It”.

It sure took a while though…

After starting my career at PwC in 2008, and then spending nearly a decade in medical device sales, I felt lost and somewhat hopeless.

I’d been chasing what I thought I was supposed to do, rather than what I enjoyed doing.

That all changed on Nov 20th, 2018.

An example of the beneficial side of social media; a targeted ad for Codecademy, called Introduction to Python.

The aforementioned “It.”

My knee-jerk reaction was “no way, not happening.” I was 34 years old at the time, so the thought of learning how to code seemed both daunting and silly.

And the thought of changing my career path… well, that wasn’t even on the radar.

Still though, my mind was open enough to it… Why?...

Desperation.

The feeling of being lost and hopeless is both awful and terrifying. I’m sure many can relate.

When you’re in that place though, opportunity is lurking…

The opportunity to dig out... or, the opportunity to spiral further down.

To be clear, this post isn’t meant to give off “pull yourself up by your bootstraps" vibes.

When it comes to athletics and physical activity, I'm for that mindset (most of the time).

However, when it comes to the mind, human emotions, and the unique, singular life experiences we all have, there is no simple, cookie-cutter statement or approach to “fix things” – in my opinion.

And if you believe there is, congratulations on figuring out what works for you. Just keep in mind that’s a gift, not someone else’s defect.

To that point though, this post is about how grateful I am, on a few fronts – and how I hope to convert that gratefulness into becoming more of a contributor, rather than just an absorber.

I’m grateful that I found Python.

Grateful that I discovered it in an era where I could learn an immense amount through very inexpensive, highly valuable platforms such as Codecademy, Coursera, Dataquest, Udemy, and many others.

Grateful towards the amazing Python community, and community of coders overall, which allowed me to quickly build a full-stack skill set.

Lastly, but certainly not least, extremely grateful that ChatGPT and then GPT-4 came along when they did.

So today, I'm reflecting on my gratitude and my desire to contribute more.

I've used Python to delve into a plethora of interests - sports, politics, pandemic data, and dozens of other topics/areas, which I’ll be sharing daily (hopefully).

Starting with my GitHub repo that makes use of Spotify's API (and the excellent Spotipy Python library).

A great API to tinker with.

Tinkering only leads to growth, and growth compounds over time - and there's no requirement for every pursuit to generate revenue or have an end goal; just learning in and of itself can be the purpose.

Selfishly, I know I will learn a great deal from this experiment too.

Autonomous_AJ, signing off (beep boop beep)

Link to GitHub repo:
https://lnkd.in/gZY4SDYr

DEV Community: autonomousAJ

My Path to Python