This might sound like blatant promotion, so I'll keep it generic. If you get to<div>like Python enough to where you want some kind of certification or </div><div>credential in Python in particular (or MySQL, or Java...), check out </div>
<div>some of these for-credit sites. Yes, most of them cost, though I expect </div><div>more OER stuff is coming. Yes, this includes distance learning and </div><div>learn at your own pace.</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; border-collapse: collapse; "><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/216812/free_and_low_cost_tech_classes.html?tk=rss_news" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 204); ">http://www.<span class="il" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 136); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">pcworld</span>.com/article/216812/free_and_low_cost_tech_classes.html?tk=rss_news</a></span></div>
<div><br></div><div>In Chicago you're blessed with workshops by David Beazley, one </div><div>of the better Pythonistas out there, right up there with Wesley J. Chung. </div><div>Here in Portland (where I'm based, have only led one workshop in</div>
<div>Chicago **) we have Dylan Reinhardt<font class="Apple-style-span" face="verdana, arial, sans-serif"><i> </i></font>and others, who teach Python</div><div>at community colleges and even an art school in one case (my </div>
<div>students have included teenagers as well as space scientists).</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.dabeaz.com/generators/">http://www.dabeaz.com/generators/</a></div><div><a href="http://roadkill.com/~wesc/res1.html">http://roadkill.com/~wesc/res1.html</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>Just saying, as a beginner you might aspire to a career in </div><div>teaching. Join us on edu-sig perhaps (a community list, </div><div>frequented by some known Chicago-based Python </div><div>professors).</div>
<div><br></div><div>I might start in Python 3, master the basics, then pick up the </div><div>idiomatic changes for Python 2 in a day, learn to love the old </div><div>ways (since many times, that's what you'll be using, on into</div>
<div>2020 and beyond).</div><div><br></div><div>Kirby</div><div><br></div><div>** I joined ChiPy after Pycon / Chicago 2008 because it's </div><div>legendary and because I was going there for Pycon 2009. </div><div>I'm also on the Pinoy Python group and maybe some others.</div>
<div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 7:33 AM, Malcolm Newsome <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:malcolm.newsome@gmail.com">malcolm.newsome@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Hey All!</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">I’m new to Python (and programming in general) and looking to soak up as much knowledge as possible while meeting some great people. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">If you have any cool advice or challenges for a beginner, please shoot them my way!</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">All the best!</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<font color="#888888"><p class="MsoNormal">Malcolm</p></font></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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