What does it take

I’m only about 10 hours into my Python learning objective and I’m thinking about the future. I’m going to need a lot of skills to compete in the gig economy with programming. A quick search on Fiverr for Python returned over 5000 results. That’s a lot of potential competition. I want to start to get a sense of the demand. Another gig work site is called Upwork and a search for Python there also returned something like 5800 posts looking for work. You’d think between the two sites we’d have 0 sum game.

I also found on Upwork some information about what it takes to be a freelance Python programmer. Let’s take a look at the skills they recommend (reference):

• Knowledge of and applicable experience programming in Python
• A comprehensive knowledge of object-relational mapping
• Understanding of server-side logic
• Knowledge of front-end technologies and web frameworks
• Understanding of data structure and algorithms
• Understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Experience with data science (SQL, data visualization, and statistics)
• Knowledge of SciPy, NumPy, and pandas
• Knowledge of artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Excellent communication skills and willingness to collaborate with other developers
• Comprehensive skills related to debugging and unit testing

I think I need to define some of these operators, like “Knowledge of…”. What does that really mean? This goes back to the start of this idea when I asked AI how long will it take to learn enough about Python to make money. It is more than just the Python language it’s these other areas that makes up that time. I think these learning objectives should be in a comprehensive education program. I’ll put this on the list and keep working on it.