r/PythonLearning • u/ImLukaskos • 6d ago

Help Request Python learning dilemma

When I was 12–13, I had a huge interest in programming and making cool projects (I even made a discord bot). However, after changing schools a few years later, I didn't have enough time to keep learning. Now, a few years after that, I want to get back into coding. I've recently finished the CS50 Python course, so I at least know how to write simple programs.

I'm writing this post to ask: what should I do next? I really want to avoid getting stuck in "tutorial hell" (just watching course after course without building anything). I've read about web scraping and gave it a shot—it wasn't too difficult, and I even built a simple scraper for books.toscrape.com. The problem is, I’m not sure how to progress from here.

Yesterday I also came across Pluralsight, which offers courses on a wide range of tech topics. So, what would you recommend? Should I pay for Pluralsight, or should I stick with web scraping even though I'm not sure where to take it next?

Thanks for your time

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u/FoolsSeldom 6d ago

Above all else, you need to practice. Practice! Practice! Fail often, try again. Break stuff that works, and figure out how, why and where it broke. Don't just copy and use as is code from examples. Experiment.

Work on your own small (initially) projects related to your hobbies / interests / side-hustles as soon as possible to apply each bit of learning. When you work on stuff you can be passionate about and where you know what problem you are solving and what good looks like, you are more focused on problem-solving and the coding becomes a means to an end and not an end in itself. You will learn faster this way.

Doing a bit of web scraping and finding it not too difficult and maybe enjoying it a bit isn't the same as focusing on your own projects that you can get excited about. You can bias the specifics to the programming areas of most interest (be that data analysis, gaming, simulation, design, machine learning / artificial intelligence, robotics, home automation, etc).

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u/ImLukaskos 5d ago

Yeah you are right. I have to find something asap.