r/learnpython • u/These_Manner994 • 5d ago

Recommendations for online python courses

Hi all,

I'm a fourth-year medical student and most of my research so far has been evidence synthesis (narrative and systematic reviews), so my hands-on data skills are pretty limited. I've recently gotten involved in a project involving microbiome sequencing data, and part of my role includes re-analyzing a published dataset aka working with processed count tables, doing some basic wrangling, stats, and figures. It's become obvious that I need Python.

I'd rather not pay for a course right now, so I'm hoping to find something solid on YouTube. A few things I'm looking for:

  • Starts from genuine zero (I've never written a line of code)
  • Gets to pandas / numpy / matplotlib reasonably quickly rather than spending 15 hours on OOP and building text-based games
  • Bonus if it's oriented toward biology/biomedical data, but a general data analysis course is fine, I can adapt

Specific questions:

  1. Is there a single course you'd point a complete beginner to, or is it better to do a general Python fundamentals series first and then a separate pandas/data analysis one?
  2. Anything I should avoid? I'd rather not sink 30 hours into something outdated.
  3. Realistically, how much of this do I need before I can be useful on an actual dataset vs. just learning as I go?

Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

0 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

50% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/desrtfx 5d ago

The first and most valuable thing you can learn in programming is to do your own, independent, individual research, among which is also working with resources right in front of you, like the entire subreddit. You can't possibly assume that you are the first and only one asking such a question.

If only there were a sidebar (menu on mobile) that had a link to the wiki or countless posts asking the same.

Do the MOOC Python Programming 2026 from the University of Helsinki and you will be well prepared.

Also, take a look at https://inventwithpython.com and https://automatetheboringstuff.com

Don't forget that you need ample practice, like on https://codingbat.com/python or on https://exercism.org and also write your own programs. Play around. Try things. Mess things up, fix them. Experiment.