Madelyn Schoonover 🇺🇸

“Having been a literature and arts person my whole life, I never pictured myself coding. I'm so glad I took a chance on learning something outside my comfort zone, because it has been so rewarding! I absolutely loved diving deeper into Python and building a final project that could showcase all the things I learned about working with data. Python was much more challenging for me to learn than HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and there were times I got really frustrated. However, this meant that every time some new information or concept really *clicked* and I could successfully implement it in my code, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. Now, I love when I'll be talking with someone or watching something that includes data and realise how I could interact with that data in Python. It's not something I ever thought I could do, and feel really proud that I've stuck with it. Learning Python has become a new tool I use to create things I never thought I could create before, like interactive games and graphs to chart my reading habits. I'm really sad the class has come to an end, but I look forward to building on the skills I learned to create my own projects!”

“I absolutely loved using the skills I learned in Python Basics to create a more interactive project in Python AI! One of the difficulties I had with Python Basics was that I always wanted to go a bit further with the code, and that's exactly what the Python AI course allowed me to do. As with all the other SheCodes courses I've taken, lessons were succinct and engaging, and the challenges were fun to complete. One of my favourite aspects of the course is how customisable the final project is, thanks to how you can personalise your prompts.”

“Learning Python really challenged me, and it was not an intuitive language for me to learn (even though lots of programmers I know say it is the easiest language). However, the lessons were short and to the point, which helped me avoid getting overwhelmed with the challenges. I also needed a lot of extra practice to cement concepts in my head, so I really appreciated the extra resources provided outside the main lessons and challenges as they allowed me to play around more on my own. Once I started recognising mistakes in my code *before* I ran it and the programme crashed, I really turned a corner and started enjoying myself more.”

“There's a lot of information, but the lessons are very bite-sized so it's easy to take a break when you need to or go back and find the specific directions for one thing you learned if need be. The challenges are fun to complete and help you see progress in real time as you learn. Matt's a great teacher and everything is very clear - even for those like me who have never programmed!”