The Complete Python Developer: Zero to Mastery by Andrei Neagoie [review]

Hello developers! Today’s post covers the best Python course in 2020 for beginners.

The course in question? The Complete Python Developer: Zero to Mastery by Andrei Neagoie.

But before we get into the meat of the course, let me share with you a quick story of my early days as a software student.

As an entirely self-taught web development student, I had no idea who this Andrei Neagoie guy was.

Since I focused my attention on Colt Steele’s now-classic Web Developer Bootcamp, Andrei really wasn’t on my radar.

And even after people suggested I review his Complete Web Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery, I took my sweet time checking it out. Why? Because there were already lots of other bootcamps out there, and I thought Colt’s was just fine!

But when I finally got to the course, I was impressed.

As somebody who checks out new platforms for my audience literally every week, it takes a lot to impress me.

• His courses are massive and engaging. 
• The material is updated on the regular so you don’t feel like a fool. 
• And he totally opened the floodgates of the tech community when he opened up his Discord server. (It currently boasts well over 100,000 members). 

As a content and course creator myself, I seriously don’t know how he does it all. Like, he actually participates in the Discord, he writes the newsletters.

And Andrei consistently cranks out the best software courses on the web.

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation if you buy something. Read my disclosure for more details.

This includes his new Python course, The Complete Python Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery.

It’s sort of clone of his best-selling web developer bootcamp.

Much like that course, Andrei’s Python offering is thorough, modern, and exciting.

That last part is important because ––

Let’s face it, there’s some stuff in software development that is BORING.

Serializing and deserializing a binary tree just for fun, anyone?

But Andrei has a knack for making the boring stuff bearable, and the exciting stuff (like building projects) is especially engaging…Even if 100,000 other people are building them. 

Clocking in at around 30 hours, The Complete Python Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery starts off with what you’d expect: intro, setting up your Python environment, then onto Python basics.

• The course assumes no previous knowledge of coding principles, and Andrei takes time to go over things like variables, strings, and functions.

• However, he also dedicates videos to discussing some terms you may not have heard of even as a non-Python developer like the augmented assignment operator, bin() and complex, and list slicing. 

• The Python basics sections is about 3 1/2 hours, while a Python Basics II lasts just as long and covers things like conditional logic, iterables, range(), enumerate(), and much more. 

• There are five sections dedicated to advanced Python concepts (OOP, functional programming, generators, etc.), then on to modules and debugging. 

A lot of this stuff is what you’d expect in a typical Python course.

And you only start building projects well into the second half of the course. In my opinion this is a good thing, but it can get boring in spots leading up to them. But what sets this course apart from, say, Colt Steele’s Python course (which is also a great Python course) are those projects. There are 12 in all, with highlights including: 

• A web scraper for HackerNews
• A Twitter bot
• A secure password checker
• Automation tools for Selenium 
• A portfolio website

OK, these are fun freaking projects. Not just a web scraper but…A web scraper for HackerNews. Not just a bot but…A Twitter bot. Practical fun stuff that you can deploy to the real web. 

As far as the language itself…If you’re a developer but never tried Python, you’re going to LOVE some of its built-in features.

As somebody who didn’t learn Python until about 2 years after I first started programming, I couldn’t believe what a fun and engaging language it is.

Now the concern some of you no doubt have is, “But I’m a web developer. Python isn’t the language of the web.”

This is true.

Honestly, I wouldn’t suggest learning Python as your first language if you know that you definitely want to be a web developer. This language is so “silky” that it can be distracting you from your actual goal of becoming a web dev.

However, if you are curious about this language and want to build some cool projects, I highly recommend this Python course.

Not only do you learn the basics but you’re building 12 projects so you can really get a feel for its strong suits. There is also a HUGE list of Python-related questions he compiled for the course.

If you have web development on your mind, Andrei covers about 3 hours of web dev in a section called Web Development with Python. In this section he focuses on Flask, a micro-services web framework and you build a portfolio site with it. And that can be another excuse to take this course as a web developer!

For example, if you’re aiming to work at a company that uses Flask (there aren’t many out there, but they’re around), this is a good investment to get your feet wet. 

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The one thing I was disappointed with is the lack of interactive coding environments.

Although Andrei’s courses are video-based, it still would be a nice feature to have. Configuring your local coding environment takes hours and sometimes even days when you’re new. This can be discouraging for a lot of code newbies. (If you’re interested in this type of learning, check out my multiple reviews of educative.io).

But all things considered, The Complete Python Developer in 2020: Zero to Mastery is a banger.

Python is such a wonderful language and it’s beginner friendly. If you’re looking to explore the fun parts of computer programming, if you want to dabble in Flask as a web dev, or maybe you just want to build some cool projects (again…there are 12 so you get your choice)…This Python course is a great investment.

As Andrei Neagoie himself said in the course description: “Prepare to fall in love with Python and programming!”

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More about the Zero to Mastery platform

In 2020 Andrei Neagoie migrated from Udemy to his own learning platform, Zero to Mastery (ZtM) Academy. ZeroToMastery.io features courses on web development, Python, AI & Machine Learning and more.

It’s a subscription-based “all you can eat learn” model. You can choose the month-to-month plan ($29/month) or the yearly plan ($264).

If you choose the yearly you save 24% off the monthly price for a year ($84). This is also a good option if you don’t want to feel rushed while checking out the course offerings. Most of these courses are HUGE and will take a month or more to finish at a reasonable pace.

In addition to unlimited access to the current courses, you also get:

• ZTM Academy-only content
• access to a private LinkedIn networking group
• the ability to download the course material
• an invite to the ZTM Discord server
• Access to all future courses

ZTM Discord

The ZTM Discord server is an especially valuable feature. As I mentioned earlier in the article, Andrei Neagoie is actually there, interacting with people throughout the day. This is something I just don’t see with other popular instructors. They usually have a TA (teaching assistant) as the main point of contact.

Even better, the Zero to Mastery Discord server is not only a coding community, but a real-time help center. At any hour of the day you can ask questions related to any and all of his courses, and usually receive a prompt response from someone in the ZTM community.

Andrei is going to be producing even more courses for Zero to Mastery Academy and the value of this platform is only going to go up. He’s one of the best instructors in the game.

You simply cannot go wrong with any of his courses, including this Python course. Happy programming!

Check out Andrei’s Python course here.

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FAQ

Course Content:

Course Content: Complete Python Developer in 2019: Zero to Mastery
Programming Fundamentals
Python Basics
Python Fundamentals
Data Structures
OOP with Python
FP with Python
Lambdas
Decorators
Generators
Testing in Python
Debugging
Error Handling
Regular Expressions
Comprehensions
Modules
Virtual Environments
Developer Environments – PyCharm
Jupyter Notebooks
VSCode
SublimeText + more
File Processing: Image
CSV
PDFs
Text + more
Web Development with Python
Machine Learning with Python
Data Science with Python
Automation with Python and Selenium
Scripting with Python
Web Scraping with Python and BeautifulSoup
Image Detection
Data Visualizations
Kaggle
Pandas
NumPy
scikit-learn
Email and SMS withPython
Working with APIs (Twitter_Bot)
Password_Checker
Translator

Course Content
Practicality
Instructor Presence
Student Support
SUMMARY Andrei Neagoie's The Complete Python Developer: Zero to Mastery stands out as the best Python course for beginners in 2020. Why? Because not only is the course packed with over 30 hours of information, but Andrei's production values and instructor presence is A-game quality. His Discord server is not only a coding community, but a real-time help center where you can ask questions related to any and all of his courses.	4.8