Over the years, I received thousands of emails from Finxters who are interested in a list of my “best” posts that concern the business and productivity side of computer scientists and programmers.
The following list is a curated list of the productivity related articles on the Finxter blog, ordered by recency: 👇
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How Fake News are Holding You Back in Python
Experts in their field read more books! The rise of “Fake News” shows that the quality of information is a valuable asset of the information society. With poor quality of information comes poor knowledge and expertise. Let’s order the content types based on the quality of information they tend to generate (from low quality to…
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Attention, Python Coder! What Can You Learn from the StackOverflow 2019 Developer Study?
The yearly StackOverflow Developer Study is the largest of its kind. Every year, more than 90,000 developers participate by answering a 20-minute questionnaire. Because of the great insights, the StackOverflow study is a must-read for uprising developers and coding talents. This article gives you a short overview of the key highlights of the survey. Interestingly, you can…
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Why does Python Look Great on Your Resume?
Nothing to add—let’s get started! ? Python is the fastest-growing major programming language. A StackOverflow 2019 developer survey shows that Python is not only faster growing than C++, Java, JavaScript, and any other major programming language, it also comes with a happier community that loves the language most. Python is great for machine learning. Python comes with…
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Don't Compete on Price as a Self-Employed Freelance Developer
Today, there’s a global competition in the coding market. If you create your coding business online, you compete for business with coders all around the world. Become a self-employed freelance coder in the trendiest programming language in the universe! And there are great coders in India, Pakistan, and other countries who have a great advantage…
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Programming Your Intelligence
This is a first draft for an introductory chapter of the fifth book of my “Coffee Break Python” series. If you want to follow the updates of this book, subscribe to my Python email training program where I’ll announce the book as soon as it’s ready. A large body of psychological research divides your general…
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How Long Does It Take To Become A Python Developer
This is a common question on many forums. And the answer is — it only takes a few seconds. It’s all about your self-perception. Writing my first (Python) book was hard. It was hard to produce unique text, day after day, without any immediate feedback from the market. Working on such a long-term project without getting any…
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Don’t Think in Terms of Resumes as a Coder — Do This Instead!
The world of programming is different than other professions because it’s a practical, hands-on profession. Coders who get results and can showcase practical projects that solve real problems will always win in this marketplace. You don’t need a degree. Say, you just solved one Upwork project after another. You have a lot of good testimonials…
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Why You Should Offer Your Services For Free as a New Freelance Developer?
I got this question recently regarding Python freelancing and I immediately thought that’s a brilliant idea. (Seriously.) Why should this be a good idea considering that Python freelancers earn $51 per hour on average? Because you can increase your Python skill level but you don’t have to polish your salesman skills from day one. It’s…
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Can You Get A Job Knowing Only Python And No Other Programming Language?
Of course, you can. However, the question misses the point. It’s not about how many programming languages you know. It’s about how much expertise you have in the areas that matter. If you are good at Python, you’ve already proven that you have expertise in the technical programming area. Now, it’s much more about how…
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A Simple Formula to Reach Any Success
Yesterday, I found this email in my INBOX — sent by Finxter Muhammad, one of my most loyal “Coffee Break Python” email readers: ~~~ I have good news I got a job as a Python programmer in a software house.All credit goes to you – Your daily puzzles made me good in Python….. ~~~ While…
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Focus on One Thing. But What’s the Thing?
This article does not give you the standard advice: do what you love. You should love what you do but you don’t necessarily have to do what you love. Oftentimes, the love comes by being successful in a thing. But to be successful, you have to differentiate yourself in the 21st century. In business, it’s…
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What is a Career in Computer Programming Like?
All programming is not created equal. Having said this, I don’t know a single programmer who regrets his choice of learning to program. With growing automation, programming becomes more and more a skill that is at the heart of many tasks in our society. No matter whether you work in the medicine, logistics, retail, or…
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How Does One Become a Freelance Coder?
Becoming a freelance coder is both easy and difficult. It’s easy because everybody can do it within a day or so. And it’s hard because most people fail miserably because they don’t know the right way of approaching this. Maybe you are interested in coding, or maybe you are already very good at coding. But…
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How Python Freelancing Helped Me Create a Thriving Coding Business on the Side
I’m a full-time online business owner working in the Python education space. But I started my career by working as a doctoral computer science researcher at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. While I was working there, I started my online business by finishing a few Python freelancing jobs. Creating a side-business helped me greatly in…
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What Non-Programming Skills to Learn Online That Will Explode Your Career Options?
Do you work in the software development industry? Big news: programming expertise is an important skill set that will help you accelerate your career. For example, one of the most satisfying and highest-paying jobs are DevOps specialists (read more on my blog article about this excellent job description). But DevOps specialists need to have a high-level of coding expertise—gained…
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How to Invest as a Python Programmer?
Investing is the most natural thing in the universe. Trees invest energy into seeds. Parents invest time, money, and sleepless nights into their children. Companies invest in employees. States invest in public school systems. They invest because they expect growth of their investments. The one who invests more and smarter has a huge structural advantage.…
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Is it too Late to Learn Programming and Find a Good Job at the Age of 25?
Not at all. There are at least four reasons why you can start to learn to program at any age and become successful—especially if you are only 25 years old! First, you don’t need to become an expert programmer to pursue your dream job. Most jobs that most people would consider as “dream jobs” do…
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The Workforce Disruption of the 21st Century
You may be interested in creating your own (side-) coding business online. The world has changed. Today, freelancing is THE most suitable way of organizing, managing, and delivering talents to creators in the 21st century. Here’s how freelancing impacts every aspect of my professional life today: I work as a freelancer myself. This was how…
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How to Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs and Reach Mastery in Coding
You think you don’t have it in you to become a master coder? You’re right. You think you are the king in coding? You’re right, too. Learning to code is a question of confidence. You must set yourself on a cycle of positive reinforcement. You try new things, stretch your skills to the limits, get…
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[Life Hack] How to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome as a Doctoral Computer Science Researcher (and Thrive)
When starting out as a doctoral researcher, I felt like an imposter: unworthy of contributing to the great corpus of academic research. I respected my colleagues a lot—they were smarter, more knowledgeable, and more skilled. How can I make a difference in a world full of highly skilled people? Fortunately, I watched a TED talk…
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[Life Hacks] Where Should You Live as a Freelance Developer?
Do you dream of living the freelance lifestyle? Becoming a freelance developer can greatly simplify your life. However, it can also turn out to be an uphill battle you cannot win. As a Python freelancer, you can expect to earn $51 per hour on average. However, one of your biggest expenses in life is housing.…
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Why Most Programming Blogs Fail
Writing a tech blog about your dream programming language — Python, Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C++, Go, or even Erlang — is a fun way of boosting your own skill level, gain reputation in your field, and share your knowledge with the world. But it’s also an ungrateful job. If you are like most people,…
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Why Does Finxter Exist?
Finxter helps you push code projects towards attainment. This article introduces the mission statement of Finxter. Your continuous improvement in coding, business, and productivity is at the core of everything we do. Set yourself on the road towards coding and computer science mastery! Learn the relevant business skills to make your coding business thrive! Be…
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Are You to Old to Become a Python Freelancer?
The short answer is no. You are not too old. The older you are, the better your communication skills tend to be. Having great communication skills is the main factor for your success in the Python freelancing space. Watch my video to get a detailed answer to this question: Here’s the link to the Python…
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Why Do I Always Feel So Unproductive?
I recently watched Sam Oven’s video which provides a great answer to this question. You can’t do the work because you don’t love what you do. It’s simple: if you love what you do, you will work on your thing six days a week, twelve hours a day, year after year. I know it sounds…
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How to Deal With Bad Coding Habits—And Write Cleaner Code?
Do you know the following problem: you know you should write cleaner code—but you don’t actually do it. My biggest struggle with Python so far is building good habits. Examples: To build an object model when it is warranted instead of trying to run functional code. Start with comments. Learn to use automatic testing. Niklas…
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What is the Fastest and Easiest Way to Learn Python Programming?
My freelancer course member Pratyush wants to improve learning efficiency in Python. He asked me the question: “how can I accelerate the pace of my problem-solving mind?” Focus first and foremost on reading and writing massive amounts of code. It’s that simple. Maximize the time you are looking at source code, and improvement will come…
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How to Start Your Career as a Data Scientist with Python?
This guide is a conceptual view on how to start your career as a data scientist–and on which skills you should focus. Here are the three most important steps recommended in the video: Learn Python basics (link to free Python crash course on this blog). Learn NumPy (link to free NumPy tutorial on this blog).…
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Computer Science PhD: A Simple Formula for Massive Success ?
Almost precisely four years ago I watched a TED talk that changed my life. I had just finished my computer science master and was starting out as a fresh Ph.D. student in the department of distributed systems… … and I was overwhelmed. There are many computer science students reading the Finxter blog so I hope…
While working as a researcher in distributed systems, Dr. Christian Mayer found his love for teaching computer science students.
To help students reach higher levels of Python success, he founded the programming education website Finxter.com that has taught exponential skills to millions of coders worldwide. He’s the author of the best-selling programming books Python One-Liners (NoStarch 2020), The Art of Clean Code (NoStarch 2022), and The Book of Dash (NoStarch 2022). Chris also coauthored the Coffee Break Python series of self-published books. He’s a computer science enthusiast, freelancer, and owner of one of the top 10 largest Python blogs worldwide.
His passions are writing, reading, and coding. But his greatest passion is to serve aspiring coders through Finxter and help them to boost their skills. You can join his free email academy here.