A Python Core Competency Checklist

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Whether Python is your first language, or your 10th, here’s a list of basic competencies which, once mastered, will take you far. Note that most of these competencies don’t involve outside libraries — these are not the competencies that will make you a stunning Data Scientist or a API developer. These competencies are core — they’re fundamental. No matter what path you choose to go down with Python, being competent in these areas will make you better at what you do.

How should you use this checklist?

Don’t try to work through these top-to-bottom. That will drain your life force and leave you as a little pile of dust sitting on your rolly chair. Instead:

• Skim through the checklist and try to note one particular area of competency that you’re missing
• Click through the documentation for that area, but just scan that as well, don’t try to fully absorb it. Keep the documentation open.
• Now, find a coding project — maybe a coding challenge — and try use the area you want to work on in your project. Refer to the documentation as you code — it will be much more meaningful to now that you’re actively solving a problem. I personally love Advent of Code for learning new languages — it provides a series of challenges (some of which build on each other), which can be solved…