Possibly because the demand has increased? We're a Perl shop and have absolutely no chance of finding professional developers on the market, we've actually considered switching to Python (despite the language's similar to Perl deficiencies: multithreading (GIL) and lacking performance, but I digress), but I suppose we won't be any more successful trying to hire people if we do (this is my impression from looking at job offers and talking to students).

Seems like the only choices for now are Java and PHP, at least here in Austria - and I'll probably stop programming myself if we switch to any of these.

I started a job as a web designer in Dec 2011 only knowning HTML/CSS. I picked up a little PHP and JS knowledge.. not much, but working with WordPress it kind of just happens.

I tried Learn Python the Hard Way, but when I finished the book I didn't feel like I had the skills to start a project, so I read the Django Book. I am more of a designer than a developer, I really want to get over the hump and start writing code that can do the things I envision.

I've tried codecademy, which is helpful, but I still don't feel I'm there yet. I have started a "web app", but I got stuck on a few features I want to add, so I'm stalling on those.

I'd really appreciate any guidance! No formal education, all self taught. I have grown immensely as a web designer over the past year, but my programming skills aren't growing nearly as fast...or at all anymore.

I guess you're talking about only Python. Well, as I said its one of the easiest language to pick up. Python's own documentation is a very good start. "Introduction to python" and "Dive into python" are good start. Huge list - http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks.

If you're talking of django/web-frameworks, well it'll be a little more effort since it involves some stuff (concepts of MVC, etc) other than python per se. So you could start by understanding of web development in general. But django docs tutorials are also pretty good.

I learned Python because I wanted to make stuff fun little scripts in Blender. Tutorials helped. So did reading source code and drawing inspiration from it. Ultimately, it was just one project inspiring another inspiring another.

In your case, I guess the thing to do would be to google an open-source django app. Find something you like from the templates director. Copy what you like and build out from there.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have ideas I just don't know if I should start with those, or work on open-source projects beforehand. I think I'm going to go with the ladder.

You need to take a computer science course , which will teach you how to think.

The Python exercises on codeacademy are there to strengthen your grasp of python syntax and practice for loops.

I recommend Udacity CS101 and/or edx 6.00x. Both are Intro to CS courses which use Python.

Thanks. I have heard of Udacity, just never looked into it.

How are you seeking help when you get stuck? It's really important to have someone that can help you go over the big hurdles. It doesn't have to be a specific person in particular. You can go on irc.freenode.org #python and ask questions there. People are helpful most of the time.

Thanks. I've just been checking StackOverflow, and I hang out on IRC from time to time.. I had a programming mentor who I met via Reddit, but he went MIA on helping me out after a few months payment. :[

I would help you, but I don't know how much free time I'll have in the future. You can e-mail me your questions and I'll answer when I can. If I think that some of the answers can be found by googling, I'll tell you so, and I'll give you explanations where I think they're needed.

This makes me think that a program that connects mentors and students would be very useful. I'm not necessarily thinking of it as a money-making endeavour, but some resources need to be found to make the project self-sustainable.

Find programming projects that you want to work on, and just start programming. Sometimes you will need to look up how to do X every line and sometimes every 5 lines, but the way to learn to program is by getting started and getting used to structures and control.

This is funny. When I started learning programming with Python last year I kept reading about the scarcity of python jobs. Did it change so fast?

I think there aren't that many Python jobs compared to Java, PHP, C#, but they're starting to increase.

It is strange to me as well, that I see so many people passionate about Python and, at the same time, I hear so many companies having difficulties finding Python devs.

One reason could be that the interest in Python varies by country. For example, in Romania there are very few Python programmers. Secondly, maybe the companies have too high expectations, asking for front and back-end experience and maybe even some low-level skills (C, C++).

Ever heard of Paul Graham's Python Paradox http://www.paulgraham.com/pypar.html its a little old but still awesome and relevent

It's relevant if you replace Python with something newer.

I've also found Python incredibly easy to pick up, but that may be because it's my nth language and not my 1st, 2nd, etc

Nope. Its far more easier than C++, Java. I'd say even easier than other in its league such as Perl, Ruby, etc. but that would be argued I know. But no doubt, its a good candidate for 1st language.

If anyone is struggling to find Python programmers shoo tme an email. I know of a couple.

The problem is that it's easy to find people who put "Python" on their resume. Hard to find people who are good at it.

True. I'm one of those true Python guys. That's why I know of others. Nuuton is being build with Python (Django for the front end of things). And I'm currently building an ad platform with it. So, if anyone needs to find good Python programmers from a Python programmer, let me know.

really trumps me... almost every coder I have ever met who has tried hands on python loves it...(easy to see why) and there isn't any scarcity of em. yet, its proving difficult to find a python guy to hire for our startup...

Where are you looking? There is a massive community of python developers on linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=25827

I realize it was pretty dumb of me to forget about linkedin groups... thanks. But the fact still holds (atleast in my country, India... scenario might be different for different countries or even localities) 'number of coders in java' > 'number of coders in python'

PyCon India and foss.in are good events to meet passionate developers. Likewise, local developer meetups (like Bangpypers; Banglore python group), are another great venues.

``'number of coders in java' > 'number of coders in python'

Well, that is a no-brainer, since its the most popular language taught in colleges with C++ a close second. That said, there are a _lot_ of smarties coming out of colleges and its just a matter of polishing the diamonds in the rough before they get 'lured in' by low paying IT companies. I don't see why Joel Spolsky's tactic of 'snatching' promising young talents before even hitting their final year in college won't work; albeit a little work from your part.

Not dumb. I only discovered Linkedin Python groups yesterday. I didn't mean to come off as condescending.

It's cool... that wasn't condescending. I actually never thought of my linkedin connections/groups as potential co-workers...

Not very surprising. When I think of connections, I rarely think of Linkedin. I don't know what sucks about it, but something surely does :)

trumps me too, We have a similar situation in my team, trying to find someone with even little python experience is becoming a painful task