I want to learn SQL and Python, but each time I start learning, I reach a point where I ask myself “what’s the point” if it’s not helping me get ahead in my job or career. Anyone have good self project ideas or ways to stay engaged when there’s no end goal to work towards?

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Your motivation will come from your “why”. I enjoy my python class the same way I enjoy a good puzzle or crossword. I find it actively fun and rewarding. That’s why I do it.

If that’s not true for you, and you also don’t believe it will help your career… then just don’t do it! I know there’s a ton of people out there bragging about technical skills but it really isn’t a huge deal. If it becomes critical to your career later on, you can just learn it later. Free time is for enjoying.

likesmarthelpfulfunny

Get involved with innovation or transformation initiatives. There’s so many teams that would love someone who can code to give challenges to. If you’re struggling to find a team/challenge, DM me.

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Have you tried sql/python murder mysteries? There are other game formats too

likehelpfulsmart

Yes! I used this one too

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Google volunteer coding projects or look at Coding for Good. Find a project that appeals to your values/ interests.

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I’ve only been successful when I need to learn something to solve a problem. Sounds like you want to have a hammer without a nail.

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Kaggle! Get on the leaderboard and jobs will come.

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I can totally relate. Hope you get a helpful response.

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I'm in the exact same boat. Got tired of following "Learn Python 3 the Hard way", bough a Raspberry Pi, and am now having a blast googling my way towards building an automated home garden.

likeupliftinghelpful

There’s a lot of fun stuff you can use Python for. You could mint NFTs. Or automate something you don’t want to do. I made a bot to book ski reservations with the Epic pass last year or some other browser automation task (that is legal). I have a buddy that made a fake LinkedIn account that had some Python repost articles on LinkedIn and his bot account started getting interview requests. I kind of want to build that. Just type in fun Python projects and look and see what’s out there. It’s a lot more inspiring to build a thing than just practicing. It can be fun good luck!

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I have this same problem. I’m too high of a level to do anything code related even if I learned something beyond basics. If I was an analyst or consultant, I would go for it. Code is where the jobs are

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Raspberry Pi projects can be fun, relatively easy and often use Python. And cheap. Won’t helps directly with your career but that’s how I continue to try and learn as I run into the same feelings as I work through learning Linux.

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Try to tailor it on a basic build project? SQL is used to query databases so maybe something like building a basic data lake platform on AWS (although this is a bit more involved than one might think). AWS has a free subscription for reference. I think you can try EMR out on there

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Love all the reco’s from the community here! :)

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I had success going for certs and badges. Many programs have final projects that mimic real world scenarios and at the end you get some kind of credential that you can use to differentiate yourself from your peers (i.e help you get ahead in your job). By telling people what you’re interested in and referencing the certs you’re working on you position yourself well for internal and external projects where those skills are needed. It’s a long process but a rewarding one if you can follow through

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Not sure where you work, but at pwc I had free access to a data wrangling course that was through the learning platform udacity. It covered foundational data wrangling and visualization in python, as well as data wrangling in SQL. If your firm gives you access to anything in udacity I’d recommend checking it out - lots of very short, easily digestible videos followed by exercises to practice, and ultimately larger projects graded by real humans that provide feedback

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Thanks to OP and the replies. I’m on the same boat learning SQL for work….kinda. I’m heavy on data-driving decision making and feel like knowing the language will make it easier to understand what can be sourced from databases and ask in the right context. Finding ways to practicing without bugging the hell out of the IT guys is a great help!

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Idk what your job function is but try to find a use case to write scripts to do some part of your job. I guarantee you there will be something.

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I love basketball so I just learned Python through some basketball datasets. Give something like that a shot, and don’t forget that it takes a while to get good at something! Just enjoy the ride and do it at your own pace

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Just curious what tools did you use to learn each. I want to learn SQL and python as well.

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Are you me? 😂

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Give yourself a personal project-based end goal. When I did this, it was to push me to learn powerapps so I could create an app to help me track some stuff in a way that j wanted versus using something that already existed/did not fit my needs. Im certain there are many things you could apply the skill to. Once you identify what those are, I think there’s a high chance you’ll get more motivated to finish the course so you can do the thing you want to do.

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I’m of the camp who says not to lean on courses too much. I’ve always learned more by having a project that I want to complete, and not just talking about a jupyter nb on a kaggle dataset. Build a data pipeline for something or hook up to an API, choose something that has a clear end goal/accomplishment because then you’ll keep going.

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