[Tutor] looking to hire a tutor

[Srinivas Iyyer]

Hi meenakshi,
 I am a postdoctoral fellow in oncology and with
passion and I wanted to learn programming especially
Python. I tried my luck in C, Java and PERL.  To my
surprise they were much harder to understand and work
with. I chose Python to help my work and it helped me
run my life easily.

just like you, I contacted many experts who would
spend their time to train me. I dared to spend around
'$10 K' to learn programming (at programming camps).
The truth is, it may sound strange, you may hire the
best tutor on this planet, BUT the seed-logic of
coding cannot be planted in your brain by none other
than you.

My suggestions:
1. choose exercises/problems from your own area of
research, instead of 'Hello world' type.

2. Regularly read 'Tutor' mailing list. Here experts,
are so passionate and with patience spend their time
for no cost, in critiquing your code, not matter how
simple or harder it may be. At no cost, you get top
notch programmers instead of one.

3. Post your questions here. Believe me, THIS IS THE
place to learn serious Python programming.

4. After a tutor responds to your question, go back to
simple books and try to understand the nuances. 

Books:
Dont forget to carry these whereever your go:
1. Alan Gauld's : Learn to Program using Python
2. Mark Lutz'z: Learning Python

Rest other books are up to your taste and choice.


good luck.



--- meenakshi at mbi.ucla.edu wrote:

> 
>   Hi,
>     I apologize if this has been covered before.
> I am a postdoctoral research scientist learning
> Python programming.  I
> would like to hire a tutor who can spend 1-2 hours a
> week with me going
> overand critiquing my programming.  I have looked
> for online Python
> programming classes (not free tutorials), which
> offer structure and
> feedback for a reasonable price.  To my surprise, I
> havent been very
> successful.
>    Working with online free tutorials hasnt been an
> ideal approach, partly
> because I dont get feedback and partly because they
> dont completely
> meet my requirements.
> 
>  How would I go about hiring a python tutor who:
> 
> Spends time critiquing my code and providing
> detailed feedback.
> Cares about good programming practices and is able
> to provide cogent
> explanations of programming principles.
> Can instruct me in the finer points of breaking a
> programming problem down
> into constituent parts.
> Is well versed in Python.  It would be great (but
> not necessary) if he/she
> were also familiar with data mining practices.
> 
>  I would be willing to pay 20-30$ an hour (or more
> depending on instructor
> qualifications).
> 
>    How do I go about doing this?  Any suggestions?
> 
>   Thanks
> Meenakshi
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Tutor maillist  -  Tutor at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
> 


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