[cuppy]

I'm one of those people who have been trying to learn how to code, and I did start out using Codecademy. I quickly figured out what you're saying here: it kind of sucks. It was helpful for making me think about things with a programmer mindset and also helped teach me syntax, but I completed the entire JavaScript and Python tracks without any clue how to go on to make my own project. Also, it had so many bugs that half the time I ended up checking the Q&A section and just copy/pasting code that worked.

On the contrary, I'm now doing One Month Rails, a $20 course from Skillshare. The very first lesson taught me how to set up Git, get Ruby & Rails all set up on my machine, created a new project, and deployed it to Heroku. This was already a world more helpful than the Codecademy lessons. (I'm blogging about it here in case anyone is interested: https://cuppycode.wordpress.com/ )

Next I'm going to go through the Rails 3 Tutorial. If there are things like this (project focused, help you set up the dev environment) for Python, could anyone recommend?

[sgpl]

Rails Tutorial (http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book) teaches you to do all those things and more. More importantly it is absolutely free. I'm just pointing it out as I wasn't sure whether you were referring to another book when you mentioned "Rails 3 Tutorial" as your next step.

For starting python I've seen http://learnpythonthehardway.org/ recommended a lot on here. It is also free online.

[paulwithap]

I just started Effective Django: http://effectivedjango.com/

I'm also in the process of learning more about Rails via Michael Hartl's book: http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book

Hartl's book is awesome, but a LOT of new information thrown at you at once, and very opinionated. Still a great resource, though - especially for the low, low cost of free.

[equilibrium]

The first lesson at Getting Started with Django really focusses on setting up a dev environment. http://gettingstartedwithdjango.com/