One of my readers replied to an email I sent a couple of weeks ago and we got into a brief discussion on what I’ll call, Skills Erosion. They brought up the point that by leaning too heavily on AI to generate code, people were losing their edge. It’s a good point that’s top of mind… Continue reading The Vibe Coding trap
Articles on learning
The missing 66% of your skillset
By Julian Sequeira on 27 January 2026
Bob and I have spent many years as Python devs, and 6 years coaching with Pybites and we can safely say that being a Senior Developer is only about 1/3 Python knowledge. The other 60% is the ecosystem. It’s the tooling. It’s all of the tech around Python that makes you stand out from the rest. This is… Continue reading The missing 66% of your skillset
Optimizing Python: Understanding Generator Mechanics, Expressions, and Efficiency
By Josh Engroff on 20 March 2025
Python generators provide an elegant mechanism for handling iteration, particularly for large datasets where traditional approaches may be memory-intensive. Unlike standard functions that compute and return all values at once, generators produce values on demand through the yield statement, enabling efficient memory usage and creating new possibilities for data processing workflows. Generator Function Mechanics At… Continue reading Optimizing Python: Understanding Generator Mechanics, Expressions, and Efficiency
Bridging the Skills Gap Across Africa with Pybites
By Julian Sequeira on 29 January 2025
When Bob and I first started Pybites, there was no way I could have imagined it’d grow to what it is today. Launching our first products was a massive moment for us both, not just because these were ways to sustain the business, but because we were actually HELPING people. People were coming to us… Continue reading Bridging the Skills Gap Across Africa with Pybites
OpenStreetMap, Overpass API and Python
By Judith Vockenroth on 17 April 2024
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is known for being an open source project that allows people to browse the world map and to plan routes. However it is more than that. Among others it provides a read-only API that allows users to query for very diverse map data: Overpass API Data structure of OSM To understand the structure… Continue reading OpenStreetMap, Overpass API and Python
Debunking 7 Myths About Software Development Coaching
By Bob Belderbos on 12 September 2023
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Chinese proverb Transformative power of guidance 10 years ago I was overweight, maybe not more than +12 kg, but it definitely had a bearing on the quality of my… Continue reading Debunking 7 Myths About Software Development Coaching
Python Coding Interview Learning Path
By Josh Engroff on 27 June 2023
Introduction Most companies, when recruiting new software engineers, include at least one coding interview as part of their selection process. And why not? We’re software engineers, after all; writing (and reading) code is what we do. Yet, even for the seasoned Pythonista, there is one coding interview that often feels disproportionately — and unnecessarily — stressful:… Continue reading Python Coding Interview Learning Path
5 tips to learn any new Python library faster
By Bob Belderbos on 19 April 2023
This was a Pybites email first. To always get the latest and greatest content, subscribe here. Lately I have been learning some new libraries for weekly PDM Code Clinic demo sessions (e.g. PyScript, Flet, PySimpleGUI, Playwright, htmx, Redis, Leaflet, etc.) There is a general approach I take that makes this less painful and more fun.… Continue reading 5 tips to learn any new Python library faster
Fail. Fail better. A change in attitude towards Imposter Syndrome
By Sherry Andrews Bhutia on 26 January 2023
I’m afraid my introduction to you all will quickly turn into somewhat of a cliche being Canadian . Let me explain. You know what it’s like. You are watching a YouTube video on the latest and greatest tutorials (Yeah, I was also engulfed in the flames of tutorial hell). Then it happens… commercial! Arghhhh! There is… Continue reading Fail. Fail better. A change in attitude towards Imposter Syndrome
Testing membership and empty strings
By J. Ryan Hall on 20 January 2023
I was working on one of the exercises on the Pybites platform (Bite 29) and encountered a situation I didn’t understand. I needed to check a set of inputs to see if they were alphanumeric or not as part of the solution to the exercise. I succeeded in all but one test, but I couldn’t… Continue reading Testing membership and empty strings
