Learning a new skill can be a daunting task. It’s often difficult to know where to start – there are an abundance of web pages, forums and online tutorials to get stuck in to.

Recently, I wanted to learn about the Python Pandas library and also have some practice using Jupyter Notebooks. These are both libraries that I’d heard good things about from friends and colleagues, and I felt it was time to give them a go. I already have a few years of experience using Python, so I had the basic skills I needed to be able to install and use these libraries. I also have a programming setup ready to go on my personal laptop, including having Git, VSCode and Python 3 installed, and I have a GitHub account to store my code in.

I often find the best way to learn, particularly with anything code related, is to find an interesting question have a go at answering it. I think it’s best if the question or problem to aim to solve is something you genuinely find interesting and/or are passionate about. This will help keep you stay motivated. My question was based on my interest in sport, and the fact that the FIFA Women’s World Cup is taking place this Summer: What can I learn about the success of the England Women’s Football team based on data from past international games?

I then looked at the documentation for Pandas, Jupyter Notebook and watched online tutorials to check that it was actually possible for me to answer my question with the tools I’d selected. Once I’d confirmed it was possible, all that was left for me to do was give it a try! I spent a few hours over the course of a week playing with these libraries and learning as I went. I’m definitely no expert in anything I learned, but I now have a new basic skill that I can use in the future!

You can check out the code I put together below!

My tips for learning a new tech skill

If you’re looking to learn a new skill, whether thats a new programming language, library, tool or technology, my advice to you is:

1. Find an interesting question to answer or problem to solve. This will help you stay motivated.
2. Ensure you have the basics covered – don’t run before you can walk!
3. Look at existing documentation and tutorials to help you.
4. Have fun, and celebrate even the smallest of wins!