This Coursera Specialization for Python Must Be On The Priority List Of Every Beginner Python Learner.
Chances are you wish to evaluate how good the popular Python specialization and courses are before going forward with one course. After scouring through the many options, you may have come across the Python for Everybody Specialization on Coursera, but is it worth your time and money?
Fret not!
You are in the right place to have all the answers. Here, we will give a detailed Python for everybody specialization review to help you make an informed choice.
So, it is one of the most detailed and comprehensive courses on the domain online. You will cover everything from the fundamentals to the advanced topics. Over 1,385,770+ students have already taken this class. The class received close to 200,000 ratings and a 4.8 average rating, a giveaway sign of its authenticity and credibility.
Most people believe that getting well-versed in programming is often tedious and time-consuming. It may take many months, sometimes even years, to get proficient at it. But this course disregards this notion and how.
In this, the instructors try to compile the things by usefulness and practicality to ensure you understand the nitty-gritty sans any fluff. Moreover, since the instructors behind this class are alumni of the Michigan university, you have no better proof of credibility.
Now, let us dive right in as we give you a well-rounded Python for everybody specialization Coursera review.
Python for Everybody Specialization Overview
Cost |
|
Duration | Approximately 8 months to complete |
Schedule | Suggested pace of 3 hours/week |
Reviews | Mostly positive |
Rating | 4.8 |
Learners | 1,385,354 already enrolled |
Level | Suitable for all |
Certification | Only in the paid version |
Prerequisites | No prior experience required |
Is Python for Everybody Specialization Good?
Since the course starts from the basics and gradually increases the complexity of the concepts, it is a recommended specialization for everyone. Experts from the University of Michigan planned and drafted it. There are five courses in the specialization. So, with this class, you will learn everything that is to know about Python.
Now, let us address a few attributes associated with this course:
a. Courses Covered
1. Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)
In this first class, you will understand Python basics. The course has zero prerequisites. So, even if you have no background in Python and start this specialization from this first course, you will have good fundamental clarity.
However, it helps to be well-versed in basic mathematics. So, if you are acquainted with working with a computer, you can take this class. It covers the first five chapters of the textbook Python for Everybody.
So, once you complete the class, you will be in a position to take some advanced programming courses. In this session, you will cover Python 3. A few things you learn here are:
- Installing program
- Building a program using simple Python instructions
- Elucidating Python basics
- Using variables to calculate, retrieve, and store information
- Employing core programming tools like loops and functions
Reviews by AB.
Great introduction to Python and programming as a whole. Everything is broken down making it easy to understand. Had zero programming experience before and this class made it easy and fun to get into.
2. Python Data Structures
Course two takes you ahead of the Python fundamentals. So, you will explore the Python built-in structures like tuples, dictionaries, and lists to cater to the complicated data analysis. It covers the next five chapters from the textbook Python for Everybody. In this Python 3 class, you will learn the following:
- Data structure principles and their use
- Creating programs that can read or write data from the files
- Storing data as value or key pairs with Python dictionaries
- Performing multi-step instructions like looping or sorting with tuples
Reviews by DA.
I feel incredible that I knew almost nothing about programming just a month ago. Now I have done two of the courses of the specialization and I can actually understand other basic codes. Great course!
Related: Data Structure & Algorithm Courses
3. Using Python to Access Web Data
It is the third course in the series and teaches you how to use the internet as a data source. So, you will parse, scrape, and read the data online and access it via web APIs.
You will work with different Python data formats like JSON, XML, and HTML. However, you can excel in this class only if you are well-versed in the first ten chapters of the textbook Python for Everybody and completed the initial two courses in the specialization.
If you directly hop on to course 3, ensure that you are well-acquainted with topics like conditional execution (except/try, branching, and loops), expressions and variables, manipulating files, and data strings (tuples, dictionaries, lists, and strings). In this Python 3 class, you will learn the following:
- Working with XML data
- Extracting data from APIs and websites using Python
- Knowledge of the protocol employed by the web browser to retrieve web apps and documents
- Employing regular expressions to extract data from the strings
Reviews by DA.
Great course. The lectures are clear and thorough. The assignments are challenging yet doable. The only thing I would like is to see more assignments to get more practice with the techniques learned.
4. Using Databases with Python
It is the fourth course and introduces you to SQL fundamentals. In addition, you will also learn the elementary database design to store data as a part of the multi-step data processing, analysis, and gathering. The class employs SQLite3 as the database.
You will also create multi-step data visualization and gathering processes and web crawlers. D3.js library helps with basic data visualization.
In this class, you will cover two chapters (14 and 15) in the textbook Python for Everybody. So, to succeed, you must be well-acquainted with chapters 1 to 13 and complete the above three courses. In this Python 3 class, you will learn the following:
- Knowledge of Object-Oriented Python
- Employing the Google Maps API for data visualization
- Using the update, create, delete, and read operations for database management
- Learning how data is stored across different tables in the database.
Reviews by JG.
This course was great! I enjoyed parsing different types of data: from documents and the web. This course is definitely (rudimentary) a must take course for anyone who wants to go into data science.
5. Capstone: Retrieving, Processing, and Visualizing Data with Python
It is the last course in the specialization where you will build different applications to visualize, process, and retrieve data with Python. In this class, you will work on capstone projects that cover the elements covered in all five courses in the specialization.
This course has two parts. In Part A, you will perform visualization to become well-acquainted with the technologies in use, and then in Part B, you will work on your project to visualize some data they have or can find.
It covers chapters 15 and 16 in the textbook Python for Everybody. In this Python 3 class, you will learn the following:
- Building email data visualizations
- Processing and selecting the data of your choice
- Familiarity with the basics of creating a search engine
- Employing Unicode strings and characters
Reviews by AS.
One of the finest specializations it has been my privilege to take up. Hope to complete the Honors portion soon.Thanks and regards to the teaching team and, of course, to Coursera.
B. University Reputation
Who does not know about the University of Michigan? It is a renowned university with a mission to serve the people in Michigan and the different parts of the world via pre-eminence in preserving, communicating, building, and applying academic values, art, and knowledge.
Further, they ensure they contribute their bit towards building citizens and leaders who can challenge the present and better the future. They have some of the finest professors working with them, and Dr. Chuck, your instructor for this class, is one of them.
The association with this reputed university makes us want to give extra points for this course in our Python for everybody specialization Coursera review.
C. Instructor Profile
You will study with Charles Russell Severance (a.k.a. Dr. Chuck), a clinical professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. Charles teaches different technology-oriented courses at the university, such as web development, database design, and programming.
He has also authored several books like Python for Everybody and Using Google App Engine. Dr. Chuck has his research centered on developing learning management systems like ANGEL, Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai, amongst others.
He worked as a chief architect for the Sakai project, LMS used at three hundred schools globally. He even authored a book to elucidate his experiences as a project leader. The book is called Sakai: Free as in Freedom.
Charles also served as a host of the Internet: TCI, a national television talk show about the internet, which ran on the TCI cable system for several years.
Lastly, he worked as a columnist for the IEEE Computer Magazine, where he wrote ‘Computing Conversations,’ a monthly column containing interviews with renowned innovators and leaders.
D. Reviews by Course Takers
Here are some reviews by the course takers:
1. Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)
- Lecture videos were broken into small parts whereby it’s easy to understand and digest. Assessment given were relevant to what was taught for each segment. Navigating around course contents were easy. – Bryan T.
- Most vague info, assignments don’t even have anything to do with the videos, and the videos are not helpful because they don’t give any examples. Terrible, and extremely hard. I do not recommend this course to beginners, or to anyone for that fact. – Kanei P.
Note that we didn’t build our opinion about this specialization just based on two reviews. But these two very well summarize the divided opinions about the course. Hence we have added them to the review.
Since the course has 218,054 reviews and 4.8 average ratings. So, we believe that even though some students feel that assignments contain information not explicitly covered in the classes, it is probably because the instructor wishes you to read the book parallel to the video lesson and push you to the next course in the sequence.
Reviews by AB.
Great introduction to Python and programming as a whole. Everything is broken down making it easy to understand. Had zero programming experience before and this class made it easy and fun to get into.
2. Python Data Structures
- Excellent explanation. Professor Charles kept the course from being monotonous. Learned in depth about reading from the file, sorting dictionaries, and appending lists. Looking forward to learning more courses – SV
- The introduction is nice, but the problem is the homework design. If homework doesn’t cover too much of what people learned in class, it is easy to forget materials in class. – Chaobin Y.
Python for everybody specialization reviews come with 91,513 student ratings, and its average rating is 4.9, which is almost close to perfect. If the instructor can work on the assignment structure and cover more of what is taught in the class, it can help the students retain the information better.
Reviews by DA.
I feel incredible that I knew almost nothing about programming just a month ago. Now I have done two of the courses of the specialization and I can actually understand other basic codes. Great course!
3. Using Python to Access Web Data
- Interesting course. well-structured and paced with practical real-life examples and clear study materials. I strongly recommend this course for anyone considering learning python. Thank you Dr. Chuck! – AT
- So far courses 1 and 2 have been great with excellent explanations. I have no idea why, but that all changes for this course. The explanations are lacking and I’m left super confused. I ended up passing this class, but I feel I didn’t get a good grasp and would need to take another “access web data” like class to actually have a grasp, even a basic grasp at that. This course should be revisited with better explanations. – Anthony S.
Course number 3 has 42,958 ratings and an average 4.8 rating. Students believe it is a well-organized session with many practical and real-life examples and assignments. However, if the instructor could stress detailing the complex topics more, it will be incredibly beneficial for the students.
Reviews by DA.
Great course. The lectures are clear and thorough. The assignments are challenging yet doable. The only thing I would like is to see more assignments to get more practice with the techniques learned.
4. Using Databases with Python
- I finished the course 4 days back still one assignment is pending for the instructor to grade it because of their delay I’m not able to get the specialization certificate and my subscription ends tomorrow I don’t think I’m going to re subscribe – Hari K D.
- Wonderful course! I learned many useful SQL statements and know how to combine database operations into a python program. Dr. Chuck’s lectures are always comprehensible and clear. Thank you, professor. – Jiang L.
4th course has 20,747 ratings and an average of 4.8 ratings. The most common problem that the students face is that the instructor takes a long time to grade. Consequently, their certification is on hold, which can be off-putting for many.
Reviews by JG.
This course was great! I enjoyed parsing different types of data: from documents and the web. This course is definitely (rudimentary) a must take course for anyone who wants to go into data science.
5. Capstone: Retrieving, Processing, and Visualizing Data with Python
- Didn’t learn as much as in the previous chapters. Markers are slow to mark, my subscription actually expired before they were marked.
- I found this course a little bit easier than some of the previous courses, however, it allowed me to gain experience managing a larger project that encompasses several languages and multiple programs. – Justin C
It is the last course in the specialization and has a 4.7 average rating from the 12,793 ratings received. Again, it is a common problem, as seen in the Course 4 reviews. It would help if the instructors tried grading within a maximum span of 48 hours to not keep their students waiting.
Reviews by AS.
One of the finest specializations it has been my privilege to take up. Hope to complete the Honors portion soon.Thanks and regards to the teaching team and, of course, to Coursera.
Related: Machine Learning A To Z Udemy Review | Udemy Python Bootcamp Zero To Hero Review| Data Scientist with Python DataCamp Review
Who Should Enroll In This Specialization?
The course goes from the beginner to the advanced level. So, this specialization is for everyone interested in learning Python in the most structured and uncomplicated manner.
What Could Have Been Better?
After a critical Python for everybody specialization Coursera review, here are some of the things for improvement:
- The instructor should try to review and grade the assignments instantly for the students to receive their certification in time.
- Charles must ensure that the exercises are in sync with the learnings in the lessons.
- He could work a little on the organization of the classes.
- Lowering the technical jargon within the course can help.
- Complex topics demand more time and emphasis.
- The instructor can try to make the session more engaging for learners.
How Long Does It Take To Complete Python For Everybody Specialization?
Coursera states that if you dedicate 3 hours per week, you can complete the entire specialization in eight months. But how quickly you finish depends on your pace and the time you put in. Since you bear a monthly fee, we do not recommend stretching it for eight months.
So, ideally, if you aspire to complete this specialization in 30 days (one month), you will have to dedicate twenty-four hours weekly. Similarly, if you intend to complete it within three months, you need to put in an effort of eight hours every week.
So, depending on your pace and schedule, you can determine what works best for you.
What To Do After Python For Everybody?
Once you finish this specialization, you must work on the projects wherein you employ the skills acquired through this course. It will help you build your portfolio and amplify your chances of landing your dream job because merely taking a class will not suffice.
So, keep working and adding unique projects to your portfolio.
Final Verdict – Is Coursera Python for Everyone Worth It?
It is a good course, courtesy of its adept instructor and the University of Michigan’s credibility, diversity, and comprehensiveness. But, a little more sync in the classes and responsiveness from the instructor could have added a new appeal.
Also, we recommend trying to finish the specialization at the earliest, or else its expensive monthly subscription may dig a hole in your pocket.