[Baypiggies] Advice on how to improve my skills while working at a company that doesn't support Python

[J. R. Carroll]

Hi all,

I am new to the list, new to Python (as of a few years ago), and definitely
new to programming/scripting.

I work as a practitioner for a company that has very little to do with
programming of any kind, and I am the only one at the company that does any
work in Python.  Everything I know, up till now, has been self-taught.  I
have a substantial background in HTML/JavaScript, but most people don't
count those for much of anything.

With that said, I was just curious to know some thoughts on how I could
improve my Python skills?  I already "do projects", and I try to do
everything I can in Python (I am a statistician at my company), but I am at
the point with my Python skills that I am submitting code to stackoverflow
or on the Python IRC channel and all I get is a lot of dissension and
frustrated posters about how my code can be "optimized better", "why did
you do it THAT way?!", or that "it's not pythonic" -- all of which just
turns out to be empty criticisms with little suggestions on how to improve
my code.  I imagine that if I were at a "Python company" I'd have coworkers
that could 'soundboard' with me or give me pointers, but I don't have
access to that.  In fact, I don't know anyone else that works in Python...

Is there something you might suggest that I could 'do' to increase my
skills as a python'er so the code I write is 'respectable'?

Thanks,

-J
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