Pre-Course Preparation Pack

Women in Data
Dear Student

Thank you for joining one of our Tech Talent courses.

You will be joining an exceptional group of people who aspire to develop themselves and who like
you, want to acquire new skills within in the IT Tech Sector.

This pre-course preparation pack is one of many resources you will receive as you progress through
your course. It will also hopefully equip you to develop your own learning portfolio for when you
complete the course and are ready to look for employment.

Feel free to read through this pack in readiness for when your course starts. There is also an optional
set of tasks for you to try out towards the end of the pack.

We hope you enjoy your experience!

Yours sincerely

The Tech Talent Team

©Tech Talent Academy

Setting Up Your Equipment
You will need access to your own Laptop or Mac book to support your learning. At a minimum, a
laptop with the current operating systems such as Windows 8/10 or Mac OS 10.15 (Catalina) on a
Macbook should be sufficient to carry out your course.

Some suggested system requirements are as follows:

• Intel i5 CPU, with an i7 recommended.

• 8GB RAM, with 16GB recommended.
• 1920 x 1080 resolution monitor display (although any screen will do).

We do not recommend attempting your course using devices such as an iPad, Android/Windows
tablet or mobile phone. Please let your trainer know should you require help in accessing or
purchasing appropriate equipment to assist you on your course.

Suggested Compiler Software to explore prior to your course

Now that you have joined us you are probably wondering what the best software would be to use.
Most programmers have a preferred software to create and explore code and it will be likely that
you will be the same.

The basic Python language covered on our course, can be attempted using online programming
compilers initially. Our most popular one would be Repl.it, however, as you move through the
course you will need to use more advanced compilers, as Repl.it does NOT allow you to save your
work!

Your welcome pack will also contain a summary of the software to assist you with some of the
course topics. The table below contains online compilers needed for you to look at and try.

Please download the software directly onto your computer.

Programming Website Address Single/Multiple

Language IDEs
Python https://www.python.org/downloads/ Single
PyCharm https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/#section=windows Single
Anaconda https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/install/ (64 Bit Version) Multiple

In each case, we will write our code in an environment known as IDE (Integrated Development
Environment) which is made up of two windows (the EDIT window and SHELL). You can write code in
either area but typically programs are created in the EDIT window and you see the results in the
SHELL. In your first week of Python you will receive a guide showing you how each screen looks.

©Tech Talent Academy

Want to flex your wings? Why not try this?
If you are a complete beginner or just need a refresher prior to starting on your course, try out any
one of the following tasks to explore and see what happens when you change certain lines of code
(don’t worry if you do not know what some of the code means, as you will be learning about this
when you start): This is completely optional!

1. Easy Python Task – Click on this link to open the Python Compiler.
a. Click onto the first line in the Editor window. Type the following code exactly as it
looks in the screen shot image below

b. Click onto the ‘Run’ button

c. In the SHELL part (dark part) of the screen, what do you see?
d. Within the speech marks change the phrase “Hello World” to your name
e. Click onto ‘Run’ again
f. What has changed in SHELL?
g. Having explored the above, what did the task allow you to do?
h. Now have a go at printing the statement in one of the alternative IDEs of choice that
you have downloaded.

2. Have a go at investigating what Data is and how we use it in today’s society.

©Tech Talent Academy