#192: Coding smarter not harder - 5 key ways to succeed as a developer

Are you ready to level up your Python skills? In this episode we share the five common mistakes that hold learners back, and how to avoid them. From setting clear goals to building simple, impactful projects, we’ll show you how to turn scattered effort into strategic growth. 

Learn to stay focused in a world full of distractions, seek mentorship confidently, and reframe challenges as stepping stones. Whether you're stuck in tutorial loops or just getting started, this guide will help you build momentum, boost confidence, and thrive as a developer. 

Books:

Effective Python: https://pybitesbooks.com/books/9kG4DwAAQBAJ

The Maniac: https://pybitesbooks.com/books/TggPEQAAQBAJ

Magician: https://pybitesbooks.com/books/aKUrDwAAQBAJ

Peak: https://pybitesbooks.com/books/GmcpCgAAQBAJ

Podcast mentioned: 

#129 - Empower Your Python Ambitions - From Idea Paralysis to Real-World Projects
https://www.pybitespodcast.com/13505291/episodes/13505291-129-empower-your-python-ambitions-from-idea-paralysis-to-real-world-projects

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💡🧑‍💻Level up your Python skills in just 6 weeks with our hands-on, mentor-led cohort program. Build and ship real apps while gaining confidence and accountability in a supportive community. Join an upcoming Pybites Developer Cohort today! 🌟✅

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Transcript

Bob 0:01

Especially in this space right where people sometimes it's hard for them to reach out and it might be bothering. So I think we have episodes about this right, like bothering somebody versus giving the other person an opportunity to help, which they love, right. So, yeah, I think, just keeping that in mind and seek help, you will just grow so much faster.

Julian 0:20

Hello and welcome to the PyBytes podcast. We talk about Python career and mindset. We're your hosts. I'm Julian.

Bob 0:27

Sequeira and I am Bob Beldebos. If you're looking to improve your Python, your career and learn the mindset for success, this is the podcast for you. Let's get started. Welcome back everybody. This is Bob Beldebos here with Julian. Welcome back to the Py bites podcast yes, it's good to be back.

Julian 0:46

What's up, man?

Bob 0:47

thanks for thanks for having me as the guest today yeah, yeah, I guess you're the guest, I'm your guest, and this time we get to do face to face this week exactly that's it.

Julian 0:57

That's it very, very little time together this week, so we want to make the most of it, so we'll jump, jump straight in, uh, but everyone, thank you for tuning in, as always. Thank you, welcome back, and we're happy to have you here, as well as the many new listeners we keep finding out.

Bob 1:11

Welcome new listeners. Yeah, we just realized like a lot of people are actually new, so welcome to PyBite.

Julian 1:19

Yeah, who'd have thought this humble little podcast would grow the way it has? So I'm very, very happy to have so many people listening every week.

Bob 1:27

This is episode 192. So there will be a special one at 200. We already have something in the making, so stay subscribed.

Julian 1:36

Am I involved with that Because I don't even know what it is?

Bob 1:39

Yeah, no, we had this plan a year ago. Oh yeah.

Julian 1:44

We'll have to remember that. No, that had this plan a year ago. Oh yeah, we'll have to remember that. No, that's cool, all right. So, jumping into the episode we're going to in a minute, we're going to share five mistakes that we constantly see people making while learning Python this year. So, click-baity title Learning Python in 2025, here are the top five mistakes. But it bears repeating, you know, especially for all the new people listening. But repetition is key with learning everything, learning anything, and this is something we need to repeat over and over again. So we thought let's bring it up, let's smash it out a couple of new ones in there, but before we do bob, let's do some wins, what's?

Wins of the Week

Bob 2:23

uh, I'm so disappointed. I thought to say like, yeah, they overly use the Walrus operator. They don't use generators enough. I guess that's going to be mindset, right? No, a little bit of mindset, all right. Wins of the week. So yeah, we're in week two of the cohorts, it's going great. So yeah, we're in week two of the cohorts, it's going great. So, yeah, it's just beautiful to see people learning together and also all the site learnings. It's not only Python and building apps, they're learning tools to be more effective developers. So, yeah, it's really nice to see it's becoming this all-around program, very well structured. And yeah, one plus one is five, you know, like where people meet each other on the calls and in the community and build the same thing together and share all kinds of learning. So I'm quite over the moon, it's really good.

Julian 3:18

Yeah, it's probably the best launch of a new type of coaching product, if you want to call it a product that we could hope for. I'm super, super proud of it. Man, you've done an incredible job with the work that you've done there. But also exciting is that we have people lining up for the next one, already signing up for number three. So number two and number three have people signing up, so I I'm very, very excited for that.

Julian 3:46

That's good nice let's go ahead uh, so a quick one, but no less important. So a dream of mine is to have uh pie bites supporting military veterans around the world and, uh, even especially here in australia. Right, I'm close to home. I'd love to have something happening here. So, long story short, and I will post about this in the community on LinkedIn, all that kind of stuff. We're officially partnered with the Australian Partners of Defense, apod, and it's a sort of web portal that veterans in Australia can go to to get discounts and deals and sorts of things with different vendors for different things that they need. So I've managed to get PyBytes onto there. We're there now to support veterans who are trying to re-skill as they transition out of the military learn new skills, whatever it is, learn Python even five years after leaving the military, whatever it is. They have access to the platform at a rate. That is just for Australian veterans. So I'm very proud of that and, obviously, working on similar kinds of things for other countries. So, yeah, there's my win. I'm very proud of that.

Bob 4:56

That's huge man. That's awesome. Thanks for that.

Julian 4:58

Hey man, I'm happy. And what's a different? A joint win.

Bob 5:06

Yeah, the community, uh, community, win that uh circle just released its um desktop app, so we have been asking for this for a long time for two years two years, right, yeah, and now you can install the app on mac windows.

Bob 5:19

I don't think there's linux yet, but I guess they'll. They'll have that as well and then you can run Circle as a standalone app and therefore never miss a notification from PyBytes, which is, of course, hypercritical. That's amazing. Yeah, so it's also performing a bit better. There's sometimes some slowness. They're working on that as well, so they're making a lot of improvement. But I think this is a big one, because people have been complaining like not being on top of of all the cool stuff that's happening in our community.

Julian 5:49

yeah, no, exactly you. You miss a notification and then you're a couple of days behind. So it's nice and it's good for us too, as the, as people who run it, so that we can keep on top of things in real time. Um, I just love I have to you go, you're going raving, yeah no, I was going to say. I have to mention that the first comment on the post about the app in the community was saying it's not on linux yet love it, love it it's such a techie community yeah, well I'm proud of that.

Julian 6:19

Yeah, yeah that's not criticism. I love it. I think this is the only place that you could that would be. The first comment is how come it's not on Linux yet?

Bob 6:28

Yeah, yeah, so you go what were you going to say? I just need to unlearn the command T, because I'm constantly going to a new tab and, oh, circle's not loading in a browser, so I need to switch windows.

Julian 6:41

Break those habits, man Break those habits.

Bob 6:47

Oh, excellent, yeah, If you haven haven't joined yet pybytescircleso great community and uh yeah, a lot of exciting things happening.

Julian 6:51

There was posts about pycon, technical stuff, mindset, it's all there yeah, and a special shout out to everyone from circle, from our community that went to pycon in us in the? U US just now. It's incredible to see what everyone did. You know, mike Dahlberg got up and spoke, so did Faye Shaw, and everyone was just there having a blast Jeff Jacobson, blaise Pabon and Chris Paddy and it was just. I'm sad that we didn't go, but you know it is what it is.

Bob 7:22

Yeah, it's a bit sad.

Julian 7:26

Maybe for next year in long beach. We'll be there, so let's, let's dive in. Uh, we've, we've rambled enough. Let's talk to the. Let's get to these, um, these mistakes. Bob, do you want to take the?

Five Mistakes When Learning Python

Bob 7:35

first one, sure. So five mistakes. So people make learning python, or programming for that matter, in 2025, right? So first one is not having a plan. It's going haphazardly, just going random.

Bob 7:49

You know, learning uh you need to have a plan like, if you have a plan and this is the same with other areas in life, for example, with a diet or going to the gym if you set a goal, you're hyper focused, right, and you're going to show up every day and you're going to tick off these milestones towards that goal, right. So it's very simple and you know many have said it before us, the guys we always mention, right, the Jim Rollins and Brian Tracy's but it's true, you set a goal and set it slightly outside of your comfort zone, it's going to push you harder and it's going to make you laser focused.

Julian 8:26

Yeah, set yourself some deadlines and you know I will. I want to reiterate that a plan doesn't just always mean follow this course curriculum from start to finish, right. I mean a plan means what do I want to learn, what do I need to learn to achieve the goal? When do I want to do it? By you, know, know, make it actionable. Give yourself a, an actual end date. Give yourself a result to aim for, as opposed to I'm just going to take this course. That's not a plan, right, so be, be intentional. Is is a is a big thing here.

Bob 8:59

Um, so number two not so fast, not so fast, not so fast. Yeah, uh, there's a funny story. Like guys, uh, I've done a bit with reading, like I read a lot and then I forget a lot. And then I saw a magazine about, uh, memory and retention of information and one of the first articles said, like, be deliberate about what you read. Like, like, if you read, start asking a couple of questions before and and really define what you want to get out of that reading. So I started doing that and, boom, retention went up like 200%. So it's kind of similar, right, when you can just passively read or passively and in our space that probably means just passively consume a whole bunch of tutorials, it's not going to get you anywhere, right. But now you say, like, I want to learn this and build this. Well, I'm getting ahead, because I guess that's one of the next items. But, yeah, all right, you get the point, let's move on.

Julian 9:53

Yeah, no, that that's really cool, I like that, I'm gonna. You haven't even told me that tip. I love that because I was buried in one of the autos. Yeah, yeah, maybe, but it's cool because then it means you, when you hit that point in the book of realization, you're like this is what I came here to learn. Yeah, that's really cool, I like that.

Julian 10:09

All right, so, speaking of which, don't get distracted. That's number two, but specifically getting distracted by the news. Now, this one is specific for 2025 because the start of this year, from January through to now, without getting into politics, whatever your beliefs and stuff, whatever it has been a tumultuous year. It has been chaotic, it has been filled with all sorts of pain, suffering and just and I'm not trying to be, you know, obviously alarmist here, I'm just saying it has been stressful. Let's just leave it at that, right. It has been a stressful start to the year for many, many people redundancies, economics, all that sort of stuff.

Julian 10:49

But there is a point where you have to stop and you have to focus on what's in your control. So one of the biggest mistakes you can make learning Python this year is to be consistently distracted by news all the time by news all the time, and this particularly impacts you if you only have a finite amount of time to learn every day or to spend time coding. If you're going to spend all of your time getting distracted and I'm not promoting being ignorant to what's happening around you in the world, by all means please stay in touch with what's going on. Keep in touch, but set yourself a limit, right. Don't get distracted so you end up spending two hours doom scrolling, watching YouTube, that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I'll leave that one there, because that could go on for another hour. But just don't get distracted by the news. Make sure you are being disciplined with that.

Bob 11:41

What if you're building a news app in Python?

Julian 11:48

with that. What if you're building a news?

Bob 11:49

app in python. Okay, why, why, why do you do this to me? I would want to extend it, though. I mean a news is bad enough because, yeah, it's definitely more toxic these days, um, but there's also like shiny new objects syndrome, like people learning a new framework or shiny tool every every week, um, but then also, I mean you need to do some of that, but it's also very shallow right. So, yeah, I think it also means focusing on the few core skills that really matter. Quick break for a note of our sponsor this week, which is HiBytes.

Julian 12:19

HiBytes, that's us. I'm here, Bob. What are we talking about this week?

Bob 12:22

Well, we have a new coaching program PDC or PyBytes Developer Cohort. We thought it was never going to happen because we have been doing one-to-one for five years, but now we can do group coaching as well. We're going to build a real-world app six weeks in an exciting cohort. You're going to learn with one of our PyBytes coaches the whole journey, but also work together and learn together. And yeah, no more tutorial paralysis Build, build build.

Julian 12:50

It's wonderful, it's not something you want to miss out on. So please check out the link below, pybytescoachingcom. This is a program that bridges real building with a cohort environment, learning with other people, building with engineers. It's a wonderful thing. Check it out. Now, pybytescoachingcom, and back to the episode. Hey, that comes back to your first point about not having a plan. If you have a plan and you know what it is you're looking for and that you need to learn, it'll help you stop getting distracted by the shiny object stuff. So man.

Bob 13:18

I'm full of stories today. You know that also is the case with diet and stuff like now we have a bit of a health goal I'm not sure yours, but I definitely have uh and and you know, like it's not a problem anymore to leave the sugar and leave this and that, because I have a goal now.

Bob 13:34

So I want to go after that goal and so doing the, you know, the stationary bike, and then you know, after all that sweating, why put the sugar in there. So I'm very, very deliberate, you know. So it really works.

Julian 13:45

No, I'm with you, man. Same with the fasting I mentioned on the podcast, I think recently. But the intermittent fasting that I'm doing has really helped me curb the snacks and stuff that I was finding myself slipping into again. With working from home and working into the evenings, you know very easy to go make a tea and grab a biscuit at the same time, but now, because I have my fasting window, I'm like nope, can't do it. Sorry, it's past 8 pm.

Bob 14:09

No food now atomic, atomic habits, that you also need to create that identity for yourself, like if you say like yeah, I'm, I'm a fit guy or girl, and and then you know, identify with that, and then it's easier. I think it's the same with I'm a python developer, identify with that, that, and then it's easier. I think it's the same with I'm a Python developer Identify with that goal, and then you start to do all these things that you need to do for that.

Julian 14:31

So something you could say would be like I'm a Python developer that codes every day. I'm a Python developer that carves time out every day to code. I'm a Python developer that doesn't get distracted from the project, whatever it is, so make those identities. There's a bonus tip I'm the Python developer that doesn't get distracted from the project, you know, whatever it is Right, so make those identities.

Bob 14:49

There's a bonus tip Nice, okay, you take the next one.

Bob 14:52

Three not seeking help from expert seniors, right. So I've been definitely hampered by that Not reaching out in time or sufficiently. And then you know heading, banging your head against the wall for too long, um, and it's just inefficient, like at some point you just don't have the answers, or you might have the answers, but you just don't know what you don't know, right, and you start to do code reviews and and really seeking out that mentorship and boom, you're like tripling your skills in no time because they can, not that there's a shortcut, but they just show you what, what really matters, right, versus what not, and and how things are really being done. So, yeah, I think that's something we, especially in this space, right, where people sometimes it's hard for them to reach out and I might be bothering, so I think we have episodes about this right, like bothering somebody versus giving the other person opportunity to help, which they love, right. So, yeah, I think, just keeping that in mind and seek help, you will just grow so much faster.

Julian 15:53

Yeah, it applies to everything too, not just coding, right? This is so generic. Think about the amount of times you've gotten experienced advice from someone you've thought I've never thought of that before. Yeah, but that's not your fault, right? It's because you don't know what you don't know and they're telling you because they discovered it or they lived it and went through it and figured it out. So same thing with one of my mentors. You know, every time I speak with him, a shout out to Frank. Every time I speak with him, it's like oh, I didn't think of. Okay, so number four, you want me to take this one? You?

Bob 16:29

take this one.

Julian 16:30

This is your territory, I feel.

Bob 16:33

as you want to take five, then I guess.

Julian 16:36

Consuming instead of building.

Bob 16:37

Yeah, so I kind of can do that quickly, because I already mentioned the tutorial paralysis that we mentioned a lot and we still see that right. And the opposite remedy of that is jet learning or just-in-time learning, where you're only taking so much information, just enough to be able to crawl, not walk, but just doing little things and then build something. Because, again, going back to that setting a goal, if you build some really cool app that scratch your own itch or helps a colleague or family, you're so much more focused, it's going to be more fun, it's going to be more complex. You're so much more focused and we're going to be more fun. It's going to be more complex and it's going to be better for your portfolio and resume Because, again, we have had people that worked with us that by showing their work, they could actually skip interviewing rounds because the work spoke for itself Exactly.

Bob 17:24

So, yeah, you need to build. There's a very highly practical craft. The magic happens when it comes all together and, as I mentioned in the cohort right, python is just one third of it. The rest is tooling, experience, software, best practices, and you only get that full scope when you build something like a more mature app. Again, it's more fun and it can help somebody else and it will definitely look good on your suite and again, it can exist already. Right, like in Rust, I built an alarm app, command line app. That's not that spectacular by itself, but it was a very good exercise. I was exposed to command line interfaces and all kinds of stuff.

Julian 18:04

Yeah, no, you're bang on Same thing as I built that QR code generator. There's a million places that could do that for you, but I just wanted to build it myself why not? And it took an hour or so and bang, have my own thing. But I learned PyInstaller.

Bob 18:18

I learned a bunch of things, so sometimes people struggle though what to build, so shall we give some examples of things we built. Yeah, sure.

Julian 18:29

I think we'll start by thinking about. I think the first exercise anyone should do in this case is just think about things that they want to see come into existence, manual processes that they go through, and it doesn't have to be grand. Sometimes you won't even come up with this idea on the spot, although to do it I'd encourage. Sit there, no distractions, pencil paper and just be alone. You know to come up with these ideas. But I'll say, my first app that I built is something that still is pretty close to my heart, and that was just Steam.

Benefits of Building Real Projects

Julian 19:03

The video game platform doesn't have a notification system or didn't back then for letting you know when a new game was added to the library. This was back when I had all the money no children and I could spend money on video games and the point is is that I wanted to know when there was a new game added to the Steam library, regardless of what it was. So I built a script for that, I built a web scraper, I built a database and I remember, bob, you taught me how to set a flag so that if something had been added to the database, just a Boolean operator, right. So if it's flagged as one, it's been added. If it's got a zero next to it, it's brand new, that sort of stuff, to make sure we didn't duplicate.

Julian 19:50

Um, I didn't duplicate information, but I learned all these little things, you know. I learned database, I learned web scraping, I learned, uh, lambda, because then I connected it to lambda to email myself. So I learned python, smtp, lib and all these different things. Uh, just from one little project. So that's something you do set up an automated emailer for yourself. It does things, great idea.

Bob 20:12

Yeah, yeah, what do you have? What I built? Yeah, why not? Yeah, so I think, for me, building a couple of tools really cut me deep down with Django, right, like our coding platform and the private book side, and our own CRM tool our own content writing tool. We have a bunch of like. It feels like the whole company runs on django. Yeah, don't, don't shut down the django project anyone please. Well then, a lot of tooling as well, which you can see on pybytes, open source.

Julian 20:41

So, yeah, that's um uh, you know what I I will say. So you've talked about big stuff there, right, but talking about the small kind of tedious things, you built a scraper for the transavia web oh yeah, when I was watching uh ticket prices, yeah, yeah, yeah, that got uh, I would yeah deprecated, but yeah, it worked in a day.

Bob 21:03

Yeah, yeah, I would get like daily email like hey, price fluctuations, and then I buy yeah, and I remember you got.

Julian 21:11

You got ticket prices for cheaper because your own app notified you that price is a drop price.

Bob 21:17

That's amazing, man like that's the kind of stuff anyone can do in oracle. That, uh, that safari books, a notification service.

Julian 21:24

Oh yeah, that was a cool one that was every time new books were added right, yeah, something like that. Yeah, maybe notifications. Maybe that's where I got the inspiration for the video game theme.

Bob 21:36

Anyway, hey, I forgot, we're recording systems dude, we're recording a podcast.

Julian 21:40

We should probably.

Bob 21:41

Yeah, yeah notification services help. And then, lastly, um episode 129, empower your Python Ambitions from Idea Paralysis to Real-World Projects. We discussed the portfolio assessment tool, so if you really want to get ideas, we have a tool and we'll discuss it there.

Julian 22:02

Did you remember?

Bob 22:03

that episode off the top of your head. No, I used PyBat Search. Oh okay, you actually saw it. Talk about tools.

Julian 22:10

That was like 70 episodes ago. How did you remember that I use type at search? Oh, okay, you actually talk about tools 70 episodes ago. How did you remember that? Okay, nice, all right.

Julian 22:20

So the last one is just, it seems simple, but it really is a challenge, and that is the mistake that. The last mistake that we've recorded that we've seen a lot of people make is giving up when it gets tough. That we've seen a lot of people make is giving up when it gets tough, right. And giving up doesn't just mean and I'm going to be maybe a bit harsh when I say this, right, but maybe, rather than harsh authoritative Giving up doesn't just mean throwing in the towel and saying I'm not doing this anymore. Giving up can also just mean skipping, skipping days and saying I don't feel like it today. If we bring it down to the micro level, you're kind of throwing in the towel for that day and sabotaging yourself.

Julian 23:00

So the mistake that we see from so many people is that they give up and I say this in quotes right, they give up or they let themselves down, they stop, they take that break for no apparent reason other than it got too hard, right, and that's something that you need to push through, and it's also something to forgive yourself for as well, which I've mentioned in previous episodes. If you do do that, that's okay. Get back up the next day and say I'm just going to do this for two days in a row, minimum right. Build that momentum up again, don't beat yourself up. But the point is is in the first place we keep seeing that mistake is that, yeah, it's going to be hard, it is hard, it's difficult, it's challenging, it is not easy.

Julian 23:56

You know, both Bob and I, with our different skill levels with Python, we got there through repetition, through pushing through when things were difficult, by not giving up when we didn't understand something. Instead, we went and sought tip number three, expert help. We went and read documentation, we watched a video on that specific concept and we played and we played and we played until it stuck. So again, that mistake is just giving up. It's just throwing in the towel and saying throw, putting it in the too hard basket, which no one should be doing. If you are taking this seriously, you know you, you want to become a python developer. It's going to be difficult. You want to play the guitar? You're going to pick it up and play it. You're not going to put it down because your fingers start hurting on day one. Right, you pick it up on day two and you keep going. You develop calluses. So same thing with coding. You'll develop that resistance to the challenge and you'll be like all right, excellent, this is hard. That means I'm growing. I can't wait to get back into it.

Bob 24:48

Yeah, because this stuff is hard right. You will feel like an imposter, you will make mistakes, you will not get it. It's a super fast moving space, so you're constantly feeling behind and having to learn new things, so it's normal. It's kind of the job we have elected.

Julian 25:09

Yeah, exactly kind of the job we have elected. Yeah, exactly. But if you, you know, you look at all the people who I know, we sometimes look at people coding live and you see people writing code right off the top of their head. They didn't just start like that, you know, it took years of practice, years of playing and building. So is there? Is there a book about this, bob? I know you're dying to share it. The obstacle is the way. Yes, all right, very laughing. I guess I knew you wanted to share it.

Bob 25:38

Um, I would school like 10 times, yeah, exactly, yeah, right, in holidays stuff is good, yeah, yeah, but I think also the 10,000 rule by Malcolm Gladwell Is that the hour thing? Yeah, it just takes a lot of time. And not just time, but the deliberate practice.

Pushing Through Challenges

Julian 25:59

There's another book on deliberate practice, but I forgot the title, so I'll just link that this is the first time you've been stumped by a book. Normally you've got a library in your head, nice, okay. Well, look, that's the top five, so I'll just list them out really quickly, without diving into them. Number one not having a plan. Number two getting distracted by the news. Number three not seeking help from experts and seniors. Number four consuming instead of building. And number five giving up when it gets tough. So there you go. So remember those, write them down and do the opposite. Make the effort you know. And again, I'll just repeat the last thing If you do find yourself falling into these traps, be kind to yourself. Don't beat yourself up, because everyone makes them. We make them happen to us all the time. So keep at it.

Bob 26:58

There you go, maybe bonus, don't go it alone. Right, join our community.

Julian 27:04

Good idea. Join our community while you're at it. That's a good one. Yeah, especially because I got a desktop app, pybytescircleso. Get it, get in there. Get in there. A quick break from the episode to talk about a product that we've had going for years now. This is the pybytes platform, bob. What's it all about?

Bob 27:24

now with ai, I think there's a bit of a sentiment that we're eroding our skills because ai writes so much code for us. But actually I went back to the platform the other day, solved 10 bytes and I'm still secure of my skills because it's good to be limited in your resources. You really have to write the code. It really makes you think about the code. It's really helpful.

Julian 27:43

Definitely helpful, as long as you don't use AI to solve the problems. If you do, you're just cheating, but in reality, this is an amazing tool to help you keep fresh with Python, keep your skills strong, keep you sharp so that when you are on a live stream, like Bob over here, you can solve exercises live with however many people watching you code at the exact same time. So please check out pybytesplatformcom. It is the coding platform that beats all other coding platforms and will keep you sharper than you could ever have imagined. Check it out now, pybitesplatformcom, and back to the episode. Um, all right, so that's. That's that, bob. What are we reading? What are you reading before we wrap it up?

Bob 28:26

uh, I read the maniac Benjamin Labatut named I'm quoting from Barber's Books named one of the 10 best books of 2023. Yeah, it's about John von Neumann, about, uh, a lot of interesting things, including ai and, uh, how the go game was beaten by machines. Talks about dark stuff as well history, nuclear, yeah, all that stuff that's. But I found it a fascinating read and he writes very well, very compelling. So I I enjoyed it.

Julian 29:14

Yeah, nice, that's the one you've been sending me screenshots from right, yeah.

Bob 29:18

I sent you all kinds of screenshots, yeah.

Julian 29:22

The writing is pretty intense. It's cool.

Bob 29:24

I like it I think it would Python effective Python going through that tip style book and Effective Python going through that tip style book. And there's a third edition right which is, I think, one or two years old I think one year so it has more modern stuff and it has some really good tips.

Julian 29:43

I highly recommend it.

Book Recommendations and Wrap-up

Bob 29:44

Effective Python third edition.

Bob 29:45

Brad Slatkin Cool there you go nice, how about you?

Bob 29:50

Very good, alright, so I'm reading. Uh, I'm not reading a python book, that's for sure. Okay, shame on me, shame, no, you read enough for the both of us when it comes to the python books.

Bob 30:03

At least make it up with the mindset then yeah, that's it with the mindset no, but right now I am, I am. I am hooked on the Magician series by Raymond E Feist from 1982. I didn't realize it was that's when it was written, but I only just saw it on his bookshelf at a dinner at his place and I was like oh, I've always wanted to read this. He said I've read it a hundred times, I love it. So I grabbed it and I read it. What I didn't realize is that the book he gave me had two books in it had Magician Apprentice, which apparently is book one, and then Magician Master, which is book two. So I read into book two without even realizing I'd finished book one. So technically I'm into magician master. So there you go, um, but I'm loving it. I. I will read that for an hour a day. I just stay way too late reading. It. Cannot wait to wrap up this recording so I can go read it. Hint, hint, nice, nudge, nudge, yeah gotcha no, I'm joking.

Bob 31:09

No, I got work to do. Man, I'll read later um, but no, thank you, bob, for the chat this was so I actually really enjoyed this a lot of fun.

Bob 31:19

Thanks for ind ulging, but, yeah, still providing some value. I think a little bit, a little bit of value, that's all we're good for um. Elaborated on that building like 10 minutes, but please forgive us I mean it gets to our building.

Julian 31:33

We just get very passionate and nerdy, just so start building get in there, but thank you everyone for listening, as always, um, look, call to action is always going to be get building. Um, come check us out. We've got the cohorts now. We've got the uh old coaching programs we've had for years now, which are mature and fantastic, ready to go. Uh've got the cohorts now. We've got the old coaching programs we've had for years now, which are mature and fantastic, ready to go. We've got the coding platform. We've got heaps of stuff for you. So come check everything out. Share this with your friends. If you have anyone in your life that's studying, that's learning Python, that should learn it because they're in a very manual role. Send them our way. If you're looking to level up your Python skills, come and join us. We have so much to offer and amazing coaches and, yeah, you're going to have a fantastic time. Won't regret it.

Bob 32:17

And you can check it out on pybites the homepage, because you did a great job renewing the homepage. Thanks, man, Thank you. If you want to have a high-level overview of everything we offer and do, then pybites.

Julian 32:31

Yep, the homepage now tells you everything, which is fantastic, so check it out. All right, tune in next week, and I don't know what we're doing next week, but we'll figure it out, bob. Thank you, love chatting with you, as always.

Bob 32:41

Yeah, man, Awesome. Thanks everybody for listening and we'll be back next week and, yeah, hope to salute you in our community. Cheers.

Julian 32:50

Cheers. Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into the PyBytes podcast. I really hope you enjoyed it. A quick message from me and Bob before you go, from me and Bob before you go To get the most out of your experience with PyBytes, including learning more Python, engaging with other developers, learning about our guests, discussing these podcast episodes, and much, much more please join our community at pybytescircleso. The link is on the screen if you're watching this on YouTube and it's in the show notes for everyone else. When you join, make sure you introduce yourself, engage with myself and Bob and the many other developers in the community. It's one of the greatest things you can do to expand your knowledge and reach and network as a Python developer. We'll see you in the next episode. No-transcript.