My first question would be - why do you want to become a software engineer? Back when I went to Polytechnic (around 1981) things were a lot easier. If you were

My first question would be - why do you want to become a software engineer? Back when I went to Polytechnic (around 1981) things were a lot easier. If you were into business type computing you did some kind of computer studies degree, which covered things like COBOL and business systems (banks, insurance companies etc). If you weren't into that scene you ended up like me in Electronic Engineering. I was fascinated by electronics to the point where I knew I had to study it. Then if you were into microcomputers you bought yourself a Z80 and a few TTL chips and built one. Now there are a multitude of things to go into to the point where your options are almost endless - which probably leads to "analysis paralysis" in many cases... Which brings me back to - why do you want to become a software engineer? I would start by taking a long hard look at your interests and aptitudes. Software engineering can be merciless if you don't have the aptitude for it and interest in it. You could dip a toe in by learning Python. Actually the book you mentioned is very good as it shows you how to do practical things in Python - I have found it a useful source of reference. You wouldn't have to work through all of it. You could maybe use it to whip up a simple web scraper or process some data from Excel and just see how it feels. In some ways when you are starting out it doesn't matter too much what you do as long as you do something. One final thing - you didn't say where you were starting from. Did you imply you had a degree in Biology? It's not fashionable to say it these days but by far the majority of software engineers I meet today have what you my call "traditional" backgrounds in that they came in through getting a degree in some kind of software/comp sci subject, and possibly a masters. Sure there are a few hot shot self-taught programmers around but in my experience they are the minority. p.s. I shifted out of electronics and into software development by teaching myself TurboBASIC and then C and assembly language, and then went to work as a software trainer and later engineer, so it can be done.