Course description

Know the basics of Python and want to use it on real data? This course shows you how to load, clean, combine, summarise and chart business data with pandas and matplotlib, and then turn your work into a report that runs itself.

It's a full course, not a few quick tips. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with code written out in full, the real output it produces and a practical exercise. Every section has a practice pack with the data files, starter scripts to complete, full solution scripts and a cheat sheet. All of it is built on a year of realistic orders, website visits, market stall takings and survey answers for a fictional loose-leaf tea company in Harrogate. You follow its operations assistant as he moves the business's reporting from copy and paste to Python.

What you'll learn

• Setting up: Python, pandas, matplotlib and openpyxl in a virtual environment, and scripts that always find their data.
• Selecting and filtering: loc, iloc, conditions, isin, query, sorting and new columns.
• Cleaning messy data: missing values, wrong types, £ signs, duplicates and untidy text.
• Dates and times: parsing UK dates, resampling, rolling averages and comparing periods.
• Grouping and summarising: groupby, named aggregation, pivot tables, crosstabs and shares of a total.
• Combining data: concat, merge and join types, checking merges, and reading a whole folder of Excel files.
• Charts: clear line, bar, histogram and scatter charts with matplotlib, saved ready to share.
• Real questions: repeat customers, products bought together, whether discounts worked, and checking your answers.
• Reports and automation: formatted Excel output, tidy scripts with functions and a command-line month option.

The final project

You'll build one script that brings every data source together and produces an annual review workbook, a page of plain-English findings and a set of charts.

Who this course is for

• People who have learned Python basics and want a practical use for them at work.
• Spreadsheet users who are tired of copying and pasting the same report every month.
• Anyone thinking about a move into data or analyst work who wants hands-on practice.

How the course works

Read each lesson with your code editor open, run the starter script, fill in the gaps, then compare your result with the solution and the expected output. Everything uses free software on Windows or a Mac. You keep lifetime access, so you can come back whenever you need a reminder.

What will I learn?

• Set up Python, pandas, matplotlib and openpyxl in a virtual environment and write scripts that always find their data
• Select, filter and sort data with pandas DataFrames
• Clean messy data: missing values, wrong types, duplicates and untidy text
• Work with dates and times, resample time series and calculate rolling averages
• Summarise data with groupby, agg, pivot_table and transform
• Combine data with concat and merge, and read a folder of Excel files at once
• Make clear line, bar, histogram and scatter charts with matplotlib
• Answer real business questions and automate a formatted Excel report

Frequently asked questions