Created by John Olaoye X: JA_OLAOYE

Built for self-learners breaking into DE roles. Follow the order. 12–18 months to job-ready.

Last updated: Dec 2025

Quick Start Guide

• Time commitment: 10–15 hrs/week
• Track progress: Use the checklist database below (duplicate this page and add checkboxes)
• Projects: Build 1–2 per phase; host on GitHub
• Community: Coming soon, keep glue to my X account.

Phase 1: True Foundations (1–2 months)Master the basics no skipping!

1. Linux Command Line + Bash Scripting

• Why? 90% of DE work is in terminals/cloud shells.
• Free Resources:
  • The Linux Command Line (full PDF book) by William Shotts
  • Linux Journey interactive course (all modules free)
  • OverTheWire Bandit wargame for hands-on
• Projects:
  • Write a Bash script to backup files and pipe output to grep/awk.
  • SSH into a free VPS (try Oracle Cloud free tier) and automate log parsing.
• Checklist:
  • Navigate dirs (ls, cd, pwd)
  • File ops (cp, mv, rm, find)
  • Pipes/filters (grep, sed, awk)
  • Permissions (chmod, chown)
  • Scripting basics (variables, loops, ifs)

2. Python (Deeply)

• Why? The DE lingua franca—clean, production-grade code.
• Free Resources:
  • Automate the Boring Stuff with Python (full book free)
  • freeCodeCamp Python for Everybody (full video course)
  • Real Python tutorials (many free)
• Projects:
  • Build a CLI tool to fetch APIs and save to CSV (use requests + pandas).
  • Mini ETL: Read JSON, transform, load to SQLite.