The purpose of PyNoon is to help professionals learn Python in a friendly and convenient learning environment to the level where they can actually start using Python at work.

If this sounds like something you’d like to get involved in, check out the contact details at the end of the post.

The First PyNoon

The first PyNoon was a single 10-session course based in the Auckland CBD spanning the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Over 60 people expressed an interest in participating and we started with 39 learners.

We lost some over the Summer Break and the various holidays in February but ended up with about 25 people still attending most of the sessions by the final session.

Feedback was positive and further courses are planned.

The first course covered Python with an emphasis on data analysis using Pandas and Plotly on either JupyterLab or Google Colab.

TechNoon and Python

PyNoon is the first cab off the rank for TechNoon. It emerged from discussions between the founders at Kiwi PyCon 2023 in Invercargill.

The TechNoon Manifesto

Industry needs training in technical skills that is:

On-the-job

• TechNoon is primarily for people already in technical jobs, not people trying to enter the workforce. There are lots of good training options for students seeking to be work-ready in technical careers – TechNoon is to upskill people already working.

In-person

• Learning technical skills is easier when it is done in a face-to-face community. There will usually be an on-line component of TechNoon but in-person sessions are central. People helping people is part of the TechNoon ethos

Small weekly commitment

• People already in jobs are busy and can’t usually devote long periods of time to skills training. TechNoon courses will usually be between 3 and 15 sessions of 2-3 hours each (including homework) depending on the topic. Given the practical emphasis of TechNoon, it should be possible to split longer courses into smaller, boot-camp sized courses, each with its own practical focus.

With multiple sessions

• Unlike one-day workshops, TechNoon courses are delivered as multiple sessions interspersed with work so learning can be applied between sessions. This makes it possible for learners to bring practical questions / issues to subsequent sessions and avoid getting “stuck”. It is also more motivating to learn something in sessions if there are regular attempts to apply that learning in practice. This is one of the main benefits of on-the-job training compared with academic training.
• Learning technical skills takes time and spaced repetition and time between learning sessions helps new skills stick.

Around lunch-time

• TechNoon occurs around lunch-time to make it easier to fit into the work week and to build community.

At accessible locations

• Because TechNoon is a lunchtime activity it is important that it is delivered in locations that are as close as possible to where people work. Industry support in the form of training venues is very important.

Practical and hands-on

• Teaching and homework will typically have a substantial hands-on component where learners are actually making something useful – for example, programming code, configuration, or documentation

Industry-led

• Teachers will be people in industry with skills to share. TechNoon is about learning so it is crucial that teachers have good communication skills. This doesn’t mean TechNoon can only be delivered by superstars. Although there will be individuals who are unicorns with great technical, communication, and administrative skills, a more common pattern is to deliver training as a small team. There needs to be technical expertise in the room but the person actually delivering the bulk of the teaching should have good communication skills and an orientation to teaching

Free

• Because courses are by industry, for industry, the courses are free. Having said this, before people sign up to a course it is expected will be able to commit to the entire course, and meet the homework requirements
• Free means that managers don’t need to get budget approval to send people to a paid course. Managers can just approve the time for their staff.
• Furthermore, the overheads of running a paid course (managing payment, tax obligations, implication of some kind of certification) mean that TechNoon wouldn’t be practical if it wasn’t free.

With custom courses

• The flexibility of TechNoon encourages delivery of specialist courses for smaller numbers of learners. Some courses will be larger and more general, for example, an introduction to the Python programming language; but others might be less ambitious, for example, a course on how to write readable, maintainable SQL; or more advanced, for example, containerisation best practice

Focused on practical results, not credentials

• At the end of a course the question to ask is not what certification was gained but what specific skills were actually put to use in the existing work context. Did the training make a practical, tangible difference? Is something different as a result?
• This is arguably the key question that the trainer needs to keep front of mind while developing a course.

With open sourced content

• Teaching resources should be shared to reduce the effort required to increase technical skills in industry. TechNoon follows the open source ethos of “give a brick, get a building”
• Less of an industry need, but more of a practicality to make this training actually happen
• Releasing teaching resources, including code, under a Creative Commons licence that ensures attribution will ensure companies that make successful training resources get the appropriate credit and recognition in return.

Why TechNoon is needed

Tertiary degrees and diplomas are not a good answer for people already in jobs. Even Boot Camps are a significant challenge for most people with job commitments. Courses also tend to be too general with hit-and-miss content for people in specific roles

On-line courses, and individual articles and documentation, can’t provide the individualised support and the motivation that an in-person course can

Internal corporate training can’t achieve the economies of scale and specialisation of an industry-wide training ecosystem

Vendor training doesn’t cover the range of skills required and is not focused primarily on what is good for industry

Next Steps

The next step is to refine and sub-divide the content so it can be delivered by other people with minimal effort. Ideally, we’d like to find someone to deliver another round in Auckland – we had a long waiting list and there might be some people who missed sessions and want to make another attempt. We’ll probably limit it to 12 people this time to make it easier to reliably book a venue. We’ll also be looking carefully at how the flow between sub-courses works in practice.

Other courses will probably branch out of TechNoon e.g. maintainable SQL, and version control using git (see https://technoon.org/).

Thanks

Thanks to Tower Insurance, especially Jeff Turin, for hosting most of the events and 2degrees for supporting Grant’s involvement and providing a backup venue. Also to NZPUG for moral support. And to our helpers, Nathan McDougall, Dr John Graves, Sam Boyes, with Charles Lan, Elliot Paton-Simpson, and Giles Paton-Simpson.

Get Involved

Attending a Course

If you are interested in attending a PyNoon course visit https://pynoon.github.io/apply/

Running a PyNoon

Finally, are you interested in running a PyNoon if we supply all the resources and support? Even if you are not sure, just contact me at grant@p-s.co.nz. Remember, we are designing the material so it doesn’t require teaching superstars. Brilliance is always welcome, of course, but we don’t want to rely on it for the success of PyNoon.