In addition to teaching at UCSC-extension in Santa Clara, CA, Marilyn specializes in Python training for corporate clients, either through UCSC Extension Corporate Training Department, where students earn University credit; or independently. She has taught Python for Google, Oracle, Nokia, Cisco, VMware, Skype, LLNL, GETCO, Skype, Plantronics, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and more. Even the marketing department at Google took a class.
After teaching C for 14 years, Marilyn met Python and immediately recognized this new language as a big boon to software engineering. Engineers typically claim a 9-fold increase in productivity over C/C++ with significant improvements in readability and reliability.
Course content can be customized to meet the client's needs, but there are essentially three offerings:
- Why Python? - a 45 minute slide show and talk, suitable for a Brown Bag lunch, presented to potential clients at no cost.
- Python Retreat For Programmers - 4 to 5 days, low-pressure, fast-paced lab
course, tailored to seasoned programmers, where students learn and practice
core concepts and Pythonic thinking.
- Python Retreat for Novices - 4 to 5 days, low-pressure, moderately-paced lab course, designed for people who have never programmed before. Students learn and practice a few, carefully chosen, features of Python so that they get a taste of the art and power of programming.
The lab courses are hands-on. After each short lecture, students are given lab time and exercises that provide practice with the new concepts. Next, a new material set is distributed which contains solutions to the lab exercises and notes for the next short lecture, and the next set of lab exercises. Questions are always welcome; discussion and pair-programming is encouraged. There are usually five to six lectures and labs per day, and 2 quizzes to help solidify some key details.
Marilyn lives in the Silicon Valley but is delighted to travel anywhere.
For course syllabuses, references, sample material sets, and more information, contact:
marilyn@pythontrainer.com
650 814-4435
Essay at Coderbuddy.com: Curiousity-Ordering and the Challenge of Teaching Python to Well-Seasoned Software Engineers.
