The 6 Best Python Courses for 2024 – Ranked by Software Engineer

The Programming for Everybody specialization is an excellent five-course series for newcomers who consider learning to program daunting. Michigan University professor Dr. Charles Severance designed this course as a beginner-friendly introduction to programming with which anyone can succeed.

Dr. Severance's approachable teaching style is a highlight of this specialization. His ability to break down programming concepts lets beginners grasp the subject matter more easily over other classes.

Carefully organized interactive quizzes and coding assignments reinforce each lesson. Other than a comprehensive introduction to Python's syntax and running programs, the Python skills you'll pick up include:

• Organizing information in Python
• Using Python to access and scrape the web
• Working with databases
• Data manipulation, processing, and visualization

If you have questions or get stuck during the course, there's a strong community of learners and teaching assistants to help guide you in the right direction.

Finally, the slower pace of this series allows time-constrained learners with busy schedules to focus on achievable objectives each week. For example, in the first week of course one, you're tasked only with setting up Python on your computer.

Depending on your goals, the slow pace may be a drawback, but you can complete the coursework quicker. Otherwise, a different course on this list might be a better fit.

The Complete Python Course by Jose Salvatierra has a well-rounded curriculum, expert instruction, browser interactivity, a supportive community, and excellent price-to-value, making it the best overall Python course.

The primary advantages of this course over others are its comprehensiveness and professional code quality—you'll go from complete beginner to advanced Python programmer, all in one place.

Jose is an experienced software engineer who has taught some of the most highly-rated programming courses on Udemy for several years. This new offering takes advantage of the latest Udemy features for teaching code, enabling students to follow along, practice, and quiz directly within the browser.

After learning Python syntax fundamentals, you'll quickly transition to programming on your desktop, where you'll learn how to build increasingly intricate projects. Along the way, Jose introduces crucial tools and techniques, such as object-oriented programming, databases, regular expressions, Python idioms, algorithms, and data structures.

Through project-based learning, the course introduces you to many of the most popular Python use cases. These include:

• Web scraping
• Browser automation
• Web development
• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
• Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
• Email interaction
• And more

Altogether, for learning Python, you can't go wrong with The Complete Python Course by Jose Salvatierra on Udemy. If Jose's teaching style doesn't resonate with you, consider the highly-rated 100 Days of Code or Automate the Boring Stuff for comparable curriculums and features.

Professor David J. Malan should win a "Most Engaging Online Course Instructor" award for his CS50 lectures. His infectious enjoyment of teaching Python pushes you to keep learning despite the difficulties.

CS50 might be the most demanding of the courses on this list, primarily due to the challenging problem sets assigned each week. The assignments build on the coursework, but the lectures won't hold your hand. You'll work on your research, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to successfully program these projects.

One of the key strengths of this program is the active and knowledgeable forum and Discord community. You'll get to discuss, ask questions, and collaborate with other students and teaching assistants. CS50's community really adds an immersive aspect many other courses miss.

In brief, this six-month professional certificate contains two parts:

1. Introduction to Computer Science – build a robust foundation of computing, programming languages, algorithmic thinking, problem-solving, and various software engineering concepts.
2. Introduction to Programming with Python – learn beginner to intermediate Python skills, from syntax to object-oriented programming.

Completing this program—and a few portfolio projects—will guarantee you have the skills necessary to become a Python developer.

Persistent practice produces programming proficiency. Dr. Angela Yu designed 100 Days of Code to help build your Python programming habit by working through daily assignments over three months.

Because the course is self-paced, completing one new section each day is not strictly enforced. The unique course structure helps you stay consistent by providing achievable programming goals, gradually building your coding confidence. And when you're stuck or need a push, a strong community of fellow learners is there to help.

Complete beginners will find this course especially friendly since the instructor assumes no previous programming experience. You'll start with creating elementary programs and progress to complex tasks, such as building user interfaces, making games, scraping the web, and analyzing data.

Video lessons are reinforced with interactive browser programming assignments, creating an engaging learning experience. After a few modules, you'll escape the browser and learn to develop from your desktop using VS Code, a free code editor millions of professionals love.

Upon completing 100 Days of Code, you will undoubtedly have the skills and experience necessary for an entry-level Python developer position. Alternatively, you can continue learning and work towards specialized roles like data engineering, DevOps, and machine learning.

The academic approach of this professional certificate gives it a unique edge over other courses. Instructor Dr. David Joyner provides the university-level computing background you'll need to architect higher-level Python solutions.

Introduction to Python Programming is a four-course reproduction of Georgia Tech's on-campus class, offering the same lecture content, assessments, and assignments. Hundreds of students have completed this course with equivalent learning outcomes as the in-person version.

Each module is a blend of video lectures and interactive browser coding assignments that strengthen your understanding of the coursework. The pacing is similar to a college experience, so you should expect to spend more time per week than in the previously mentioned courses.

Overall, this certificate is an excellent choice for learners desiring a stronger foundation in computing and programming. Since edX offers this course once every few months, see the following listing for a potential replacement if it's not currently available.

Python is the most popular data science programming language, so joining a data-focused platform like Dataquest is an excellent option. Dataquest lets you gradually learn Python in-depth and seamlessly transition into valuable data science skills.

Dataquest teaches you via their in-browser interactive lesson environment. You'll read top-notch lessons and immediately apply what you've learned in multi-step coding tasks. Each course section culminates in a real-world project you can add to your portfolio. This feedback loop is effective and guarantees you'll understand the material by the end of each chapter.

The Python Basics for Data Analysis skill path contains all the programming fundamentals found in other courses, as well as an introduction to the tools and techniques for viewing, cleaning, and analyzing data in Python.

If you're looking to graduate from manually manipulating Excel spreadsheets to working with data more programmatically, this skill path is an excellent entry point. Check out my post on the best data analytics courses for more suggestions.

Overall, Dataquest is one of the best online data-centric learning platforms. See my Dataquest review if you'd like to read a more in-depth synopsis of the platform.