Learning Python Had an Immense Impact on My Career as a Cancer Researcher

Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life. 

Today’s story is from Joshua Lange, a 31-year-old Research Scientist at a biotech company developing cancer drugs and therapies, living in Stockholm, Sweden. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here. 

Why I chose to learn to code 

“When I was going through my field of study in immunology, there was starting to be a bit of a boom in bioinformatics. We were producing way too much data, and we were just starting to be equipped with the technology to process it all. My generation, however, didn’t learn any of the computational stuff — after me, every PhD student in biology had to learn some code.  

I reached a stage in my career where I was producing a lot of data. My brother, who is a Software Engineer, had always been telling me that I needed to learn this. I used to think I didn’t have the time and was fine doing what I was doing. But at work, I was copying and pasting so much and using funky Excel tables for my calculations. I would copy data into one software, then another for graphing, and spend hours at the computer, often getting mixed up or making errors. 

My brother told me there were simpler ways to do this in Python, and I could automate it all. So, I decided to take a small course. I promised myself that if I stuck to it for one month, I would buy myself a real laptop and get into it seriously. I found the Codecademy course for data science and discovered a whole section dedicated to processing data in Python, especially for biologists. 

Even from the first two weeks, using Pandas, I realized this was exactly what I needed. I kept going and found out that my workplace had set up Jupyter Notebooks for everyone on our cloud server — everything aligned perfectly. I felt the need to finally get into it, so I took the plunge, and it’s been super useful. 

I don’t spend any time doing the manual computations I used to. I’ve written maybe three or four scripts that use my original Excel file as parameters, and I hit play. What used to take me an hour or two on a Friday now takes 15 seconds and is fully automated. I love it, and my boss is really happy.” 

How I made time to learn 

“One of the reasons why I didn’t start initially was that I just never had the time. I would go to work, and by the time I got home, the last thing I wanted to do was teach myself more. But I recently moved in with my partner outside of Stockholm, which means my commute to work is almost two hours. Unfortunately, my job isn’t quite at the stage where we can have a good work-from-home arrangement.  

So, I take the train, which has really nice seating and is quite comfortable. I promised myself to dedicate one hour a day to learning instead of sleeping. That one hour turned into more; I started taking some work home with me and ended up doing two, sometimes three hours, during my commute back and forth. The commute is the only way I’ve managed to fit this in. When it got interesting, I even took it upon myself to work on it during the weekends. I felt like this was the most productive way to use my time — especially since it was quite ambitious.” 

How I saved up money to pay for Codecademy 

“I paid for it myself. There was a sale for a yearly membership. I decided to commit, not knowing how long it would take, so I just bought the year. I didn’t think too much about it — once I make a decision on something, I just go for it. It’s been paying itself back, though. I save so much time at work, which allows me to get a lot of other things done.” 

Even if you’re not seeking a career change, skilling up within your current job is such an asset.

Joshua Lange

Research Scientist

How I chose courses that fit my goals 

“This has actually been the hardest part because there’s so much possibility and so many different courses. I learn best when I am working towards something that I will use. I specifically looked under Python because I heard it has the easiest syntax for beginners. It’s also closely related to other tools that scientists use.  

So, I looked at Python and found sections on data science and machine learning. The descriptions were exactly what I wanted to do — organize data and potentially implement some machine learning in the future. From the beginning, it fit perfectly. The data science focus made it easy for me to get started and align with my goals.  

I’ve had my eye on some C programming languages because my brother has a game design project on the side. Now that I’ve gotten the hang of not just the language aspect but also the problem-solving way of thinking that comes with coding, I want to learn more fundamentals. Maybe I’ll explore game design on the side.”  

How learning to code helped my career 

“Codecademy is a really cool platform, and the impact on my job has been immense. Not only does it save time, but it also makes me think in a different way. It’s encouraged other people to start looking into it as well. I’m not old by any means, but you’re never too old to continue learning. 

Even if you’re not seeking a career change, skilling up within your current job is such an asset. With the small course I’ve done, I feel like I’ve gained a valuable skill set that looks great on my CV. You don’t have to change careers; you can make your current job better, more efficient, and make your life easier. 

The biggest takeaway for me was that I didn’t have to wait for someone to tell me to learn this. I saw a problem, decided to make a change in my job, and now programming is part of my role rather than having to switch careers completely. It’s been so great.” 

What I wish I knew before I started learning 

“Learning to code seemed so daunting, like a huge task and like another world. Software developers often get this reputation of needing to be super smart or really on top of things. And you do, obviously, but it’s more about getting started. 

I fussed around with the idea of which language to learn and what would be the most efficient way to do this. What helped me was just — this sounds so cliché — but just starting. I wish I could tell my past self to just start with something.”