Python is fast becoming the world’s most popular coding language. On the Pypl (Popularity of Programming Language) index, Python is at the top having increased in popularity by almost 29% since 2018. On the Tiobe index of programming language popularity, Python reached its highest ever rating of 8.53 percent in June 2019 but still behind Java and C. At the current rate, it is expected that Python will surpass its rivals Java and C in the next three to four years time. Python is the language of data scientists, web developers and AI experts. Having a good grasp on Python is key to succeeding in the fields related to data science and automation. Many experienced professionals are also learning Python to switch to career path of machine learning and data science.
Below is our carefully curated list of 10 Best Python Certifications, Classes, Tutorials, Courses and training programs for 2024. These resources include free and paid courses that are suitable for beginner, intermediate and expert level learners and have benefited thousands of them.
1. Python for Everybody Specialization from University of Michigan (Coursera)
This specialization has been rated as the best Python certification available online with over 228,500 enrolments on Coursera. It teaches how to program and analyse data with Python. It also aims to provide learners with foundational programming concepts like data structures, networked application program interfaces, and databases, using the Python programming language. This program is taught by Dr. Charles Severance, who is a Clinical Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information.
This is a beginner level Python training program, hence there are no pre-requisites, anybody with basic or no programming skills can take it up. In fact the first 2 courses are focussed at learners with no programming experience at all. Overall this Python specialization is structured as five courses with the last being a Capstone project where students will build their own project to retrieve, process and visualize some data that they have or can find, using the technologies learned in the program.
Key Highlights
- Build your own applications for data retrieval, processing and visualization using Python
- Explain the basics of programming computers using Python
- Describe the basics of the Structured Query Language (SQL) and database design for storing data
- Understand fundamental programming concepts such as data structures
- Use the Python built-in data structures such as lists, dictionaries, and tuples to perform increasingly complex data analysis
Duration : Approx. 3 months, 11 hours per week
Rating : 4.8
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2. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from zero to hero in Python 3 (Udemy)
This is the most popular Udemy Python course and has more than 626,800 students enrolled. The huge demand for this course is an indicator of the quality content of the course. It teaches Python in a very professional manner starting with the basics and progressing to finally create your own applications and games. It focuses on Python 3, though older python 2 notes are also provided. With over 100 lectures and 24 hours of on-demand video, this is a very comprehensive yet straight-forward course to learn Python online. It includes several quizzes, tests and programming assignments and projects to test & apply the learning in the best way.
This course is taught by Jose Portilla in a very practical manner, first he gets you started with installation of Python on your computer, then he shows you live coding with every lecture and you get access to corresponding code notebook. No prior programming skills are needed to take this course, it builds complete understanding of Python from ground up.
Key Highlights
- Learn advanced Python features, like the collections module and how to work with timestamps
- Understand complex topics, like decorators
- Get an understanding of how to create GUIs in the Jupyter Notebook system
- Learn to use Object Oriented Programming with classes
- Understand how to use both the Jupyter Notebook and create .py files
- Includes 3 major projects to create a Python project portfolio
- Create games with Python, like Tic Tac Toe and Blackjack
Duration : 24 hours on-demand video, 19 articles
Rating : 4.5
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3. Applied Data Science with Python Specialization from University of Michigan (Coursera)
This Python Certification is a series of five courses, each covering in detail some aspect of using Python for Data Science applications. The first 3 core courses delve into data wrangling, modelling, visualization, machine learning methods & techniques and the other 2 courses teach text mining and social network analysis. The focus of all these courses is not that much on theory as actual practice with Python, the default language of data science.
This is an intermediate level specialization, so a basic knowledge of Python programming is needed. Some elementary knowledge of statistics and mathematics is also assumed. Each of the five courses in the program teaches one or more free Python libraries, as outlined below:
1. NumPy, SciPy, and Pandas are covered in Introduction to Data Science course
2. Matplotlib and Seaborn are taught in course on Applied Plotting, Charting, & Data Representation in Python
3. Scikit-Learn in course on Applied Machine Learning in Python
4. NLTK and Gensim in course on Applied Text Mining in Python
5. NetworkX in course on Applied Social Network Analysis in Python
These courses are set in a specific order and build on one another, so should be taken in the specified order only, except for last 2 courses which can be taken at the same time. All five courses need to be completed to earn the certificate. There are also several programming assignments to test and solidify the learning.
Key Highlights
- Gain hands-on experience with Python data science libraries for data analysis
- Analyze the connectivity of a social network
- Learn information visualization basics with a focus on reporting, charting using the matplotlib library
- Discern whether a data visualization is good or bad
- Conduct an inferential statistical analysis
- Enhance a data analysis with applied machine learning
- Identify the difference between a supervised (classification) and unsupervised (clustering) technique and identify which technique should be applied for a particular dataset
- Build network models to identify the relationships within social networks
Duration : Approx. 5 months, 7 hours per week
Rating : 4.6
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4. Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp (Udemy)
This Python course on Udemy has a rating of 4.6 with almost 227,000 students enrolled. It is aimed at learning Python to analyze data, create visualizations, and build powerful machine learning algorithms.
This Python class caters to both beginners with some programming experience and experienced professionals looking to move to data science related fields. It is a very comprehensive course with all the content presented clearly and professionally. The course is broken down into short sections that cover everything from data analysis to visualizations to machine learning techniques and algorithms. With more than 150 videos (which makes it around 22.5 hours of content), the instructor Jose Portilla takes learners through a range of topics from Python basics to NLP to deep learning. You also learn Python libraries NumPy, Pandas, Seaborn, Matplotlib, Plotly, Scikit-Learn, Tensorflow and more. The exercises and assignments serve well to learn in an active way. The course uses Jupyter Notebook to share all the code.
Key Highlights
- Learn to use Python libraries – Pandas for Data Analysis, NumPy for Numerical Data, Matplotlib for Python Plotting, Seaborn for statistical plots, Plotly for interactive dynamic visualizations, SciKit-Learn for Machine Learning Tasks
- Use Spark for Big Data Analysis
- Implement Machine Learning Algorithms
- Understand Linear Regression, Logistic Regression, K-Means Clustering
- Learn Random Forest and Decision Trees
- Learn Natural Language Processing and Spam Filters
- Learn Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines
- Access to great community of learners who help each other
Duration : 22.5 hours on-demand video
Rating : 4.6
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5. Learn Python Nanodegree Programs (Udacity)
Udacity Nanodegree programs are another excellent choice for learning Python. Following are the two most popular programs on Python language that you can take on Udacity.
Learn Intermediate Python
This Learn Intermediate Python certification program teaches intermediate-level skills for programming with the Python language. It is ideal for those who have basic knowledge of Python and have used Python to build basic scripts but want to up their game. The program covers techniques like Python objects, object-oriented programming, debugging, and control flow and prepares learners for a variety of different roles spanning fields like Data Science, AI and Software Engineering.
There are two modules in the program that covers following topics:
- Python datatypes, objects, collections such as lists, tuples, dictionaries and sets
- Python functions and functional programming
- Object oriented programming
- File I/O
- Building modules with Python
- Using Open source libraries
By the end of the program learners are able to leverage the capabilities of Python to analyze data, build the backend of web applications themselves, and create applications with more complex algorithms such as classifying files, data mining a webpage, image resizing, word counts etc.
Programming for Data Science with Python
This is a beginner friendly Python nanodegree program that teaches all the data programming tools, such as Python, SQL, Command Line, and Git. With no prior experience requirement this programs equips learners with the programming fundamentals required to launch a career in the field of data science.
The program comprises of three modules – Introduction to SQL, Introduction to Python Programming, and Introduction to Version Control. In the Python Programming section, you’ll learn the following:
- How to represent and store data using Python data types and variables
- Using conditionals and loops to control the flow of your programs
- Complex data structures like lists, sets, dictionaries, and tuples to store collections of related data
- How to create custom functions, write scripts, and handle errors
- Python libraries – Numpy, a scientific computing package, and Pandas, a data manipulation package
Key Highlights
- Gain practitioner-level skills with Python
- Programs designed and taught entirely by industry insiders who work in the field
- Learn by building real world projects built in partnership with top tier companies
- Build a portfolio of projects to demonstrate your Python skills to potential employers
- Flexible learning programs that allow you to schedule learning at your own pace
Duration : 2-3 months, 10 hours a week
Rating : 4.6
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6. Python Programming Masterclass (Udemy)
The Complete Python Masterclass course is aimed at providing core, solid understanding of the Python programming language. This course has been designed by the most famous and loved Python teacher Tim Buchalka with Jean-Paul Roberts. Between them, they have over 70 years of professional programming experience having worked with IBM, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and Saab in the past. So they meticulously teach you industry best practices and tech that real employers look for. They have taught over 400,000 students with unique style of making complex things easy in a fun way. That’s why we recommend this Python course, especially to first time Python learners.
This is a very immersive Python training course with 42 hours of video content that teaches everything from the tools you need for programming in Python through to writing your own programs in Python. Challenges and assignments are included to test the skills learnt and further your understanding of Python. The course is kept updated and questions about the course content are answered promptly by the instructors.
This course does not teach data science, machine learning or artificial intelligence, it is focused solely on teaching the pre-requisite Python skills that you need to move into these specific branches or apply for Python programming jobs.
Key Highlights
- Learn Python from experienced professional software developers
- Understand both Python 2 and Python 3
- Understand how to create your own Python applications
- Add the Python Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) skills to your resume
- Up-to-date course content and full support from instructors
Duration : 42 hours on-demand video, 15 articles
Rating : 4.5
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7. Professional Certificate in Introduction to Computing in Python by Georgia Tech (edX)
Introduction to Computing in Python is a series of courses from Georgia Tech’s online for-credit version of CS1301: Introduction to Computing. The course series is aimed at taking learners from no background in computer science to mastery in the basics of computing and programming, through Python programming language. The material and assessments in the course are same as on-campus class.
The certification content is structured into 3 domains – first is fundamental computing principles that are taught in a programming?language-neutral way; second covers programming concepts in python that implement those computing principles; and third delves into domain applications that use those concepts and principles in real world applications.
This program in Python Certification has short videos that are rapidly interspersed with live programming, multiple choice questions and interactive exercises that help to constantly evaluate and verify your understanding of the content. You also get access to adaptive SmartBook from McGraw Hill education congruent to the lecture material that allows you to switch back and forth.
Program is taught by David Joyner, a Senior Research Associate at the College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Techology.
Key Highlights
- Understand the fundamental design cycle of computer science and computer programming: writing code, executing it, interpreting the results, and revising the code based on the outcomes
- Learn procedural programming, control structures and data structures
- Learn about recursion, search and sort algorithms, and object-oriented programming in Python
- Learn more complex ways of handling data in Python, including files, lists, and dictionaries for building complex programs
Duration : 4 courses, 5 weeks per course, 9 to 10 hours per week
Rating : 4.6
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8. Python for Data Science by IBM (Coursera)
This is a free Python course which introduces learners to Python for Data Science and AI as well as programming in general. It is beginner friendly and takes you step-by-step from zero to proficiency in Python programming. It covers following topics in detail – Python Basics, Python Data Structures, Python Programming Fundamentals, Working with Data in Python. Finally you create a project to test your skills.
This Python course is part of multiple specializations by IBM. So when you complete it, it is counted as a part of your learning towards any of the following specializations:
- Applied AI: Artificial Intelligence with IBM Watson
- IBM Artificial Intelligence Professional Certificate
- IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
- Applied Data Science
The course assumes knowledge of basic mathematics. No prior programming knowledge is needed though. It is taught by Joseph Santarcangelo, Ph.D., Data Scientist at IBM.
Key Highlights
- Learn to work with data in Python
- Learn Python libraries Pandas, Numpy and more
- Learn the control structures for developing dynamic programs like conditionals, loops, functions and error handling
- Explore the Python data structures like strings, lists, dictionaries, and file manipulation
- Project to analyse US Economic data and build a dashboard
Duration : Approx. 20 hours
Rating : 4.6
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9. The Python Bible™ | Everything You Need to Program in Python (Udemy)
This is one of the best courses to learn Python programming language with a hands-on approach. It is proven that project based learning is the most effective way to learn any skill, esp. programming. This course is project-based and teaches you Python programming by building 11 Python 3 projects during the course. So even if you are a complete beginner, you will gain proficiency in Python by working on the projects rather than just going through the individual concepts.
It is a very comprehensive course that covers all aspects of Python programming from foundational basics to control structures to data structures to object-oriented concepts. It is a great start for anybody who wants to move into web development or data science or robotics (Raspberry Pi).
The author of this course is Ziyad Yehia who is a master trainer at Udemy and has taught over 91000 students online. He is appreciated for his fun style and clear, energetic delivery.
Key Highlights
- Learn Python 3 and build 11 Python projects
- Use Variables to Track Data in Python Programs
- Use Numbers to Create “Behind-the-Scenes” Functionality
- Use Strings to Create Customized, Engaged User Experiences
- Create Programs that can think using logic and data structures
- Use Loops to Improve Efficiency, Save Time, Maximize Productivity
- Automate Coding Tasks By Building Custom Python Functions
Duration : 9 hours on-demand video
Rating : 4.6
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10. Learning Python (LinkedIn Learning – Lynda)
Complete Python Course on Lynda is another awesome course to learn Python programming. Whether you are completely new to programming or are an experienced developer, this beginner level course is great to get started with Python and progress further to data science or web development fields. With more than 250,910 viewers, this course is undoubtedly one of the most popular introduction courses to Python.
The course is split into 5 sections. First section provides an overview of installation process. Second section delves into Python syntax and basics of the language like variables, loops, functions, classes and more. Third section discusses Python’s built-in high level data types, such as dates, times. Fourth section teaches how to work with files. Last section explores Python’s library of pre-built modules and advanced features related to working with web data.
The instructor of this course is Joe Marini, who works as a senior developer advocate at Google with more than 20 years experience in software and web industries.
Key Highlights
- Understand the foundations of Python programming
- Learn to work with dates and times, read and write files, and retrieve and parse HTML, JSON, and XML data from the web
- View Offline option allows learners to watch course videos and content on their mobile device without internet
- Regular assessments and practical examples
Duration : 2 hours 11 minutes
Rating : 4.6
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11. Introduction to Python: Absolute Beginner by Microsoft (edX)
This introductory Python course by Microsoft is great for those with no or very little programming experience. It builds basic development skills that serve as the foundation for further learning. It is a very hands-on course for an in-depth understanding of Python layers and concepts. It teaches basics of Python using Jupyter Notebooks, an interactive coding environment, hosted on Azure.
In this edX Python class you will explore data types and variables, take a look at strings, input, testing, and formatting. You will also learn about arguments and parameters, along with conditionals and nested conditionals. By the end of the course, you will be able to create programs that prompt users for input and use conditional (True/False) logic and Python methods to manipulate numbers and text to provide responses to the users, in addition to requesting further input.
This course is part of the Microsoft Professional Program in Entry-Level Software Development. The content of the course is available for free to all, but you need to pay a fee for graded exams and assignments and earning a certificate.
Key Highlights
- Learn best practices and begin coding almost immediately
- Learn the essentials of programming including how to reuse functions
- Multiple practice drills and projects using Jupyter Notebook
- Learn basic troubleshooting for your code
- Learn Decisions and repetition using conditional statements and loops
Duration : 5 weeks, 3 to 4 hours per week
Rating : 4.5
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