What Jobs Require Python Experience?

According to Statista, Python is the third most used programming language in the world. Its popularity is no surprise, thanks to its use by some of the biggest tech companies in the world including Google, Spotify, Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and several international banks. 

But what jobs could you land with this versatile language? And, if you don’t know Python already, is it one of the top programming languages you should know?

Jobs Requiring Python

Flexibility and versatility make Python useful for a whole range of jobs and tasks. Here are just a few of the roles you could be looking at if you have Python skills. 

• Python Developer — Let’s start with the most obvious job first! Python developers usually work on back-end (or server-side) development. Most commonly, you’ll be working on creating and deploying apps, websites, internal systems, and frameworks.

• Data Analyst or Data Scientist — Python is essential for data analysis and data science thanks to its ability to handle multiple repetitive tasks and Big Data. A data analyst can use Python to scrape, organise, and understand data, while a data scientist may use the language to develop data-led predictions.

• Web Developer — As well as the development of back-end frameworks and services, Python is a useful tool for website development. The language can also be used to create web-based applications. 

• Business Analyst or Financial Advisor — Favoured by companies like Stripe and Zopa, Python can be used for handling financial service applications, creating scalable MVPs (minimum viable products), and creating algorithms and formulas for financial analysis.
  
• Data Journalist — In a similar vein to data analysis and science, data journalists use Python to sort and interpret Big Data. In this case, however, data journalists’ job is to make data accessible to their readers — which is where Python and its various data scraping and analysis tools come into use.

• Software Engineer — Since Python is so widely used, any software engineer should be able to work with the language. Software engineers will usually use Python to create, update, maintain, and debug codebases.

• Product Manager — Python is becoming an increasingly in-demand requirement for product managers, who need to be able to use the language to analyse product performance, alongside interpreting data to research and identify potential new products.

• Machine Learning Engineer — If you truly want to future-proof your career, upskill in Python for machine learning and AI. Machine learning engineers use python to create algorithms and models that can be used for all sorts of machine learning and analysis.

What Are the Advantages of Learning Python?

As you can see, learning Python is crucial for a huge number of STEM and IT positions. Jobs using Python look set to become even more popular in the future, so increasing your software development skills by brushing up on the language could open you up to a wider pool of offers. 

• Transferable skills — Adding Python to your skill set gives you a broader range of IT jobs to choose from. It may help you make the transition to another sector, or simply give you more choice when looking for your ideal workplace. 

• Increased salary — Python developers and those with knowledge of the language are increasingly in-demand, which is great news for your salary. Even entry-level Python developers can expect to start at around £42,500 per year, while more experienced programmers earn up to £75,000. 

• Future-proof career — Since Python is the language of choice for some of the most innovative development and research, learning the language can ensure you’re not left behind by the industry. Roles in machine learning and AI are proliferating, so learning Python is vital if you want to keep up.

Useful Python Skills and Tools

Interested in starting a new Python career? Here are some useful tools, libraries, and frameworks you should know. 

Automation Testing Tools

• Selenium — Selenium is a web-based testing tool that allows you to run automated framework tests for web applications. 

• Robot Framework and TestComplete — Another open-source tool for automated testing, Robot Framework is used for test-driven development. TestComplete is similar to Robot Framework but requires a commercial licence.

Web Scraping Tools

• Beautiful Soup — A useful library for parsing data from HTML and XML files.

• LXML — A Python tool for processing XML and HTML with C libraries (libxslt and libxml2).

• Scrapy — An open-source framework for developing web spiders.

Data Science Tools

• Keras — A Python neural network library for machine learning.

• SciPy — An open-source library for scientific computing with Python.

• SciKit-Learn — An open-source Python tool for processing data for data science and machine learning.

• Theano — A Python library for mathematical computation. 

Get in Touch

Want to know more about how learning Python could help your job hunt? Or which Python careers Bristow Holland can find for you? Contact us today to find out more.