SkillUP with Python for Finance.

As we collectively face one of the biggest challenges in a generation, I’m trying to find / show any sort of silver lining I can possibly find / show.

People across the UK, likely including yourself, are beginning to work from home. For some, this may well be the very first time.

I thought it’s a great time to learn (and in my case, teach) a new skill.

Especially one that’s increasingly becoming invaluable, particularly in Finance.

I am of course referring to Python.

You’ve been wanting to learn Python, haven’t you?

Many people have told me they want to learn Python and apply it to their jobs in Finance.

But work, life’s many tasks, and several other factors have meant people haven’t been able to start learning Python for finance.

Those who do learn, tell me:

• The courses are too abstract.
• I can’t seem to apply it to my own work.
• Printing “hello world” is great, but how do I conduct investment analysis on it [Python]?
• There’s too much info; it’s all a little too overwhelming.
• How do I apply this to my work?

Sound familiar? Good. Here’s my solution.

I’ll teach you Python for Finance from scratch. And I’ll give you a solid introduction to Python for Finance over 3 days, spread over 3 weeks.

This will give you plenty of time to apply what you learn.

There’ll be some general concepts which are absolutely necessary. But there’ll be plenty of finance related examples.

For instance, I’ll show you how you can use Python to…

• Read in Excel® / csv files and work with real financial data.
• Programatically extract financial data using APIs.
• Estimate expected returns and risk of single stocks.
• Compute portfolio returns and risk.
• Plot portfolio performance.
• [Possibly do the thing(s) you’ve been looking to do on Python; keep reading.]

Ready to SkillUP with Python for Finance?

Take the first step.

Express Your Interest

Of course, you’ve got to learn how to walk before you can run. And since I’m assuming you’re a complete beginner with Python, I’ll start with the basics to get your fundamentals right.

Day 1 – The Fundamentals

You’ll start by learning…

• The Zen of Python
• What “good code” looks like.
• How commenting can make you code better, faster, and more clearly.
• What variables are and how we use them in Finance.
• When, how, and why we use conditional statements (and how it’s so much easier than on Excel!)
• How your code can be more efficient by using the right data structures including lists, dictionaries, and tuples.
• The power of automating repetitive tasks by using for and while loops.
• Why you don’t have to reinvent the wheel thanks to Python’s vast library of modules and packages.

Day 2 – Working with Data.

You’ll start with a recap from the previous week’s “Day 1” learning. And then you’ll…

• Explore Python’s incredibly robust Pandas framework.
• See how you can use your existing data by learning how to read Excel / CSV files into Python.
• Make your life easier by cleaning / pre-processing data so it’s ready for your analysis.
• Learn how to easily conduct exploratory data analysis using built-in tools.
• Apply your knowledge to finance concepts including estimating returns, expected returns, and risk of stocks on Python.
• Create equal weighted portfolios and estimate their returns and risk.
• See how one line of code gets you your Variance Covariance Matrix (VCV).

Day 3 – Financial Analysis with Python

Start with a recap of “Day 2” from the previous week. Then…

• Explore how you can work with multiple datasets.
• Discover how you can seamlessly merge and join different datasets.
• Leverage the power of groupby statements to gain meaningful insights.
• Learn how to create functions to automate your workflow.
• Explore simplified functions using Lambda expressions
• Conduct robust statistical analysis including OLS Regressions on Python.

Importantly, this is a tentative course outline.

If there are specific things you want to learn, you can tell me about it. If it’s feasible, and if many people want to learn similar things, I’ll incorporate that into the course.

NOTE: you will NOT become a “pro” at Python after this course. It takes a LOT more than a few days or even weeks / months to become a “pro”.

Express your interest.

I’m inspired by these comments.

While this is a brand new course, I’ve been teaching and training people for 10 years now. Many of my students have been kind to leave some words. Here’s what some of them have said about my other courses…

 
Learn about my teaching ethos and see what my students at Uni have to say here.

Enough Reading!

Take the first step.

Express Your Interest