How Long Does It Take To Learn Python?

Python is often recommended as the first programming language beginners should learn. How long does it take to learn Python? And how can you make the learning process easier? Find out in this article.

Python is a programming language that seems to be more appealing to newcomers than any other programming language. Those who want to take a step into data science, programming, or software development mostly choose Python as their programming language.

There is a strong motivation behind why people are inclined to start with Python. First of all, it is an intuitive language and makes you feel like you are coding in plain English. The creator of Python, Guido van Rossum, explicitly stated that one of his goals was to create a programming language with code that’s as understandable as plain English. Understanding the code is very important in software development, as a substantial amount of your time developing software products will be spent on reading other people’s code.

Python is a wide-spread language. From automating daily tasks to building websites to developing advanced machine learning products, Python has numerous applications in many different domains. Read this article if you would like to learn about why you should learn Python in 2023.

Python is easy to learn for a programming language. However, it takes some time and dedication, just like it does to acquire any other important skill. The question that naturally comes to mind is “How long does it take to learn Python?”. And that’s what we’ll answer today.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Python?

As much as I want to give you an exact answer, I can’t. How long it will take you to learn Python depends on many factors. With that being said, you can come up with a plan that can give you an approximate timeline. So, let’s talk about some of these factors that influence your learning journey.

The first and foremost is, of course, the time you can dedicate to learning. Numerous people with different professions are changing careers and becoming software developers, software engineers, or data scientists. Considering they need to keep their jobs while learning Python, the time they can spend on learning is limited. The time it takes to learn Python for people with existing jobs is different than for those who can spend most of their time learning.

Your motivation to learn is just as important as the time you can spend. Without a strong motivation to learn Python, you’re likely to spend much more time than you would otherwise. Here's some motivation to learn Python:

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The best way to keep yourself motivated is to set a goal. It does not have to be very challenging, but a goal is of crucial importance.

The goal can be in terms of time, such as “I will spend two hours learning Python every day”. You will be surprised how efficient it is to set such a goal; it also helps with consistency, which is a key element in learning any programming language. Writing code every day, even if it is just for an hour or two, will result in huge progress.

Your professional and learning background is another factor. People who have a technical background or who have some experience in other programming languages will usually learn Python faster than people from non-technical backgrounds. However, it’s important not to compare yourself and your learning experience with others. You should only focus on your goals and improving your Python skills.

For a more concrete answer to how long it takes to learn Python, you need a plan. More specifically, you need a carefully organized and structured learning path. Thankfully, you can build one easily with the courses and tracks offered by LearnPython.com.

A Path to Learn Python

As with any other programming language or software tool, you need to start with the basics. Our Python Basics track is a great starting point. It was created for people with no tech background who are looking to get started with programming.

It consists of 3 courses  and will take an estimated 38 hours to complete. By finishing this track, you will learn the structure of computer programs, how to execute repeating instructions with for and while loops, and how to implement conditions in your code using if statements. These are the basics in almost all programming languages.

This track also teaches you Python’s built-in data structures, its main functions, and how to read and write data to files. There are a total of 229 coding challenges, so you’ll get lots of hands-on experience.

When you finish the Basics track, there is the Python Basics: Practice course, which has 17 interactive exercises. It takes an estimated time of 10 hours to complete. By completing this course, you can consolidate what you have learned in the Python Basics track.

As the next step, I strongly recommend learning more about data structures because they are the building blocks of computer programs. If you don’t use data structures properly and efficiently, your programs will not perform well. You can take the Python Data Structures in Practice course to learn more about data structures. It has 118 interactive exercises and requires an estimated time of 24 hours to finish. By completing this course, you will gain valuable experience working with Python lists, tuples, dictionaries, sets, and nested lists.

Last but not least, you definitely need to learn about algorithms, which are widely used in computer programs. An algorithm is a procedure or a set of steps used for solving a problem or performing a computation. For instance, searching for a specific value in a list is done by an algorithm. Similarly, there are algorithms to find the lowest or highest value in an array. Built-in Algorithms in Python is a great course to learn about algorithms. It offers 67 interactive exercises and has an estimated time of 15 hours to complete. It explains how you can find the greatest element in a dictionary, sort string values in a list, and check if a tuple contains a given element.

We have just created a path to learn Python. It will take a total of 87 hours to complete. You can do the math and figure out how long it will take you to learn Python.

I would like to emphasize the importance of consistency once again. If you spent 20 hours a day finishing the aforementioned path, you’d complete it in 5 days. However, this is something you should definitely avoid! Learning how to code is not like reading a book. You need to think through and try to understand each and every step. I recommend coding every day and absorbing the learning material at a steady pace – not too quickly. Instead of having long study sessions, try to spend 1-2 hours a day for a better learning experience.

Python Practice Is Vital

While putting together courses and tracks to create a learning path, I specified the number of interactive exercises in each part. I did this to highlight the importance of practicing. If you only watch videos or read books to learn a programming language, you will almost certainly fail. It takes hands-on experience and consistent practicing to learn Python or any programming language. That’s the main reason why LearnPython.com provides several interactive exercises in each course.

Trying to solve a problem with coding – even if you fail for the first 100 times – is a better learning method than watching hours of online tutorials. When you watch or read, you understand the topic and feel like you are learning it. But that’s usually not the case. For learning to occur, new connections between neurons in your brain need to be established. The more you practice, the stronger the connections between neurons become. Repeatedly activating these connections result in a robust learning experience. And it can only be done with daily practicing and coding.

That’s why the courses on LearnPython.com offer lots of hands-on exercises. Solving exercises while learning is similar to real work experience. Read this article to learn about different ways to practice Python. Happy practicing and learning!