Welcome to TechTeam Workshops!
By: Lynn Zheng
Tags: Python, Workshop, Data Visualization, Data Science, Data Analysis

Hi there. I’m Lynn, a rising senior at UChicago pursuing a Bx/MS in CS and a BA in Statistics. I’m the Program Developer Chair at UChicago TechTeam and I’ve led our Fall Quarter Workshop Series for two years, Fall 2018 and 2019. Fall 2020 will be the third time I’m leading weekly workshops on technical topics like Python for Data Analysis. Let’s take a glimpse into the upcoming workshops and I hope you’ll join us in the Fall!

TechTeam workshops

(TL;DR: In Fall 2019 our two workshop tracks were on Python for Data Analysis and JavaScript for Data Visualization. The code and slides are publicly available on UChicago’s Official Website. If you are a UChicago student, please fill out our 2020–2021 membership form so you will receive updates about our workshops and projects.)

Fall 2020 Workshop Overview

Workshop Learning Objectives

The workshop targets audiences of all technical levels. We designed it to be beginner-friendly so no worries if you have never coded before.

Technologies we cover include the Terminal/Command Line, Git for version control, Python syntax basics, API basics, and Python libraries like Pandas, Matplotlib, JSON, and urllib.

The workshop runs weekly for 9 weeks, with Week 8–9 serving as hands-on project weeks. This project will help you leverage all the skills you’ve learned to create a demo you can impress your friends with!

After completing the workshops, you should be comfortable working in Python and conducting basic Data Analysis. We encourage you to engage more with TechTeam and bring your skills to our ongoing real-world civic tech projects!

Syllabus

Week 1: Intro to TechTeam

Week 2: Intro to the Command Line

Week 3: Intro to Git

Week 4: Intro to Python and Jupyter Notebooks in Google Colab

Week 5: Python for Data Analysis: Pandas Series and DataFrames

Week 6: Python for Data Visualization: Plotting with Pandas and Matplotlib

Week 7: Getting Data through APIs: JSON, The Movie Database (TMDb) API, HTTP requests in Python

Week 8–9: Project: Pokémon Data Analysis

What to Expect in Each Workshop?

Week 1: Intro to TechTeam

We won’t cover any technical topics in the first week. Instead, we will give an overview of what we do as a student-led civic tech organization. You will learn about our programs like workshops and ongoing student-led projects with Chicago-based non-profits.

Week 2: The Command Line

We will teach you how to use the command line on Mac/Windows so that you can feel like a real hacker!

The Mac Terminal

Week 3: Git

Git is a great tool for version control and collaboration: Imagine a team of engineers working on the same codebase. Simply put, version control is like saving snapshots of your code at different timestamps so you can freely reference or revert to any of them anytime. Knowing Git will give you a head start for working on complex, collaborative projects.

Week 4: Python and Jupyter Notebooks in Google Colab

We have a lot to cover this week: Python syntax basics and an interactive Python notebook environment. Google Colab allows for real-time collaboration on the same Python script, which is as easy as writing to a shared Google Doc. For Python basics, we will cover everything from variable types to data structures like lists and dictionaries.

Week 5: Pandas Series and DataFrames

Building on Python fundamentals, we will explore Pandas, a Python library for Data Analysis. In Pandas, the analogy of arrays is Series and the analogy of data tables is DataFrames. We will learn about creating, updating, and querying DataFrames.

Week 6: Plotting with Pandas and Matplotlib

Matplotlib is a plotting library that helps us visualize our data. Pandas DataFrames have great native support for plotting in Matplotlib. We will learn to make common types of plots like scatter plots, pie charts, bar plots, histograms, and many more.

Week 7: JSON, The Movie Database (TMDb) API, HTTP requests

Now we have tools for Data Analysis and Visualization in our toolkit, let’s dive deeper into how we obtain the data in the first place. Web database APIs are common places from which we get the data. We will explore making HTTP requests to the API provided by The Movie Database (TMDb) to retrieve movie data in JSON format. Building on the topics of previous weeks, we will parse the JSON data into a Pandas DataFrame. With the DataFrame, we can answer questions like what movies have the highest ratings, or, what movie genres have the highest view counts.

Week 8–9: Pokémon Data Analysis Project

Now it’s your time to shine and leverage the skills you’ve learned to complete a guided, hands-on project! You will retrieve Pokémon data from PokéAPI, a Pokémon API; extract useful stats into a Pandas DataFrame; query and plot the DataFrame to find out fun facts about Pokémons. For example, what are the most common types of Pokémon? Come up with your unique questions and investigations for extra fun.

A glimpse into the Pokémon Data Analysis Project.

Congratulations on getting to the end of the workshops and we hope you’ve learned a lot!

Next Steps: I’ve Completed the Workshops. What’s Next?

Every quarter, we have a wide range of real-world civic tech projects. They involve cool technologies like Python, Data Analysis, Web Development, and even Machine Learning. Learn more about ongoing projects on our website.

Remember you can find all of our workshop material on the workshop page of our website.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you at our Fall 2020 workshops!