Best Online Python Courses
Python is one of the most popular programming languages across various domains. It is the most actively used for data science and data analysis and also for building web applications, in the financial sector, the marketing field, and others. According to Github, Python was the second most popular programming language in 2020.
It is so popular for a couple of reasons. Among them is the easiness to learn this language, its flexibility for different tasks which is the result of having a huge number of libraries.
Also, Python skills are needed for data scientists who are in demand today and usually have high salaries. For example, junior to middle data scientists in the United States can make over $100,000-120,000. Moreover, according to Indeed HiringLab, in 2020 demand for Python skills in data science was up 128% over the past five years.
How long does it take to learn Python?
On average, it can take about 2 to 3 months to learn the basics. It includes the fundamentals of object-oriented programming, basic Python syntax, data types, variables, loops, and functions. Moreover, during this time, you can learn the main libraries. However, to become an expert in Python, you need at least 6 months of active practice. If you need Python to dive into data science, you need at least a year.
Top Python online courses to take in 2023
Finally, we are digging into the main question: what are the best Python online courses worth taking? We have prepared a list of 10 which were selected due to their content, price, reviews of current or former students, and some other criteria.
All the courses are divided into groups to make it easier for you to focus on the most appropriate ones.
Python Basics
1. Introduction to Python on Datacamp
This course is a good start for complete beginners. It includes basic topics, such as lists, functions, and an overview of libraries. The course also has a separate chapter about NumPy library which is useful for data analysis.
- 4 hours
- 11 videos and 57 exercises
2.Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) on Coursera
The course is based on the book “Python for Everybody” (Chapters 1-5) and is designed to teach the programming fundamentals with Python 3 as a working language. Here, you will learn how to install Python and using variables, functions, and loops.
- ~19 hours to complete
- Offered by The University of Michigan
3. Core Python: Functions and Functional Programming on Pluralsight
This one is centered around functions and the concept of functional programming. You will learn here how callable objects, argument definition, and calling syntax work.
- Total duration is 1h 17m
- Created in 2020
Python general (all-in-one courses)
4. Python Programming on Datacamp
The main focus of this program is to learn how to write code effectively with the best practices, master object-oriented programming as well as test and debug your code. Meanwhile, it covers such libraries as pandas, NumPy, setuptools, pytest, and pycodestyle.
- 24 hours
- 6 courses
5. Python Development on Treehouse
This program includes two courses – for beginners and intermediate Python, and also two huge topics on Django and Flask. Moreover, there are four projects within this course: The Number Guessing Game, Basketball Stats Tool, Phrase Hunters, and Store Inventory with SQLAlchemy.
- 90 hours
- 4 projects
6. The Python Mega Course: Build 10 Real World Applications on Udemy
The course covers all the main topics, from data types, functions, and loops to file processing (working with CSV or Excel files). It also includes topics related to databases and working with SQL. Moreover, you can find many advanced topics here. The main feature of this course is building 10 applications – Building an English Thesaurus, Making a Personal Website with Python and Flask, Buiding a Web Scraper of Real Estate Listings, just to name a few.
- 29.5 hours of video
- 70 coding exercises
7. Intermediate Python on Udacity
This program is designed for people who already have some knowledge of Python and want to go deeper. So, it covers more advanced topics on functions and functional programming, how to build large systems at scale with Python libraries, and building web applications with Flask. The program also includes two projects, Near-Earth Objects database generation, and Meme Generator.
- 2 months
- 10 hours per week
- 2 projects
Python for Data Science
8. Data Scientist with Python on Datacamp
This program starts from courses on NumPy and then, it goes to intermediate topics using Matplotlib and DataFrames (pandas library). It shows how to join data and provides the basics of data visualization (with Matplotlib and Seaborn). Among the projects are Investigating Netflix Movies, Analyzing The Android App Market, and others.
- 88 hours
- 23 courses
- 6 projects
9. Python for Data Science, AI & Development on Coursera
This course combines Python basics and covers the very beginning of data science. Particularly, it reveals data structures, conditions, and branching. Then, it goes to working with data, read and write files. It also covers the use of APIs and web scraping.
- ~ 17 hours to complete
- Offered by IBM
Python for Web Development
10. Django for Everybody Specialization on Coursera
This is a longer program that includes 4 courses on Django. It starts with an introduction of Django and the basics of building web applications; then, it covers object-oriented (OO) patterns and using SQL. The program also includes the course on how to use JavaScript, JQuery, and JSON in Django.
- 5 months to complete
- Offered by University of Michigan
11. Python and Django Full Stack Web Developer Bootcamp on Udemy
This course combines the basics of Front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript topics) and Python. So, the first part of it is focused on Javascript topics, and the second one provides fundamentals of Python; the final section covers the Django framework. It ends with Social Media Clone Project.
- 32 hours of video
- 198 lectures
12. Django 3 – Full Stack Websites with Python Web Development on Udemy
This course is much shorter than the previous one and is focused mainly on Django (its 3-rd version) and practical assignments to build a website (it includes 3 sites to make with Django 3).
- 8.5 hours of video
- 78 lectures
Python for Marketing & Business
13. Marketing Analytics with Python on Datacamp
The course is designed to help marketers make better data-driven decisions. It covers popular libraries for working with data – pandas, Matplotlib, tweepy, NLTK, seaborn, NumPy, SciPy, and scikit-learn. It includes such topics as analyzing marketing campaigns and social media data, market basket analysis, customer segmentation, A/B testing, and some others.
- 28 hours
- 7 courses
14. Customer Analytics in Python 2021 on Udemy
The course starts with an introduction to Python and how to set up the working environment. Then, it reveals such topics as data segmentation, clustering (hierarchical and k-means clustering), modeling purchase and brand choice, and some other topics.
- 5 hours of video
- 76 lectures
15. Python for Marketing on Linkedin Learning
This is a short course that covers the basics of using Python for marketing. It includes such topics as loading, cleaning, wrangling, and joining marketing data, making calculations, visualization, and some others.
- 2 hours
More FAQ about Python
To get the result, you need to spend at least 2 hours a day, which means about 10-12 hours a week. But keep in mind that if you spend those 12 hours in two days, it would be less effective on a long-time scale.
Python is considered one of the easiest programming languages, and this explains why many people get into coding with it. It is simpler than its main alternatives like C, C++, or Java.
It depends on your goals, but among the most popular ones are Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, SciPy, Seaborn, Matplotlib, Keras, TensorFlow, PyTorch, NLTK, Requests, BeautifulSoup, and others.
It depends on the job you are looking for. But it can be enough to find an entry-level position in software development or data analytics.
This programming language is predicted to remain one of the dominant, especially for data science which popularity is actively rising.
Not sure Python is good for you? Check our list of the best programming language to learn in 2021 and find another option.
