Python in Data Analytics: A Practical Starting Point

I started learning Python not because I wanted to become a software developer, but because I kept hitting walls in Excel. I work in data analytics and business intelligence, and my career has cut across fintech, payments platforms, KYC/AML compliance, and securities brokerage. In every one of those roles, there came a point where a spreadsheet could not do what I needed — whether that was cleaning 50,000 rows of messy transaction records, automating a daily reconciliation report, or pulling data