I recently completed Google’s course “Automate Cybersecurity Tasks with Python” on Coursera. The course is the seventh in the in the nine course series composing the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate. With an estimated time of 25 hours to complete, this course is the longest of the nine in the specialization.

What does this course cover?

The course description explains that learners will be introduced to “the Python programming language and learn how to apply it to a security setting to automate tasks.”

Make no mistake - this is an intro to Python course. While it’s part of a larger cybersecurity specialization course, the security aspect of this course feels more like decoration. Like, instead of learning print("Hello world!"), you’ll be learning print("Security alert!").

The first three modules focus on introductory programming concepts, including variables, data types, functions and loops. The fourth module, titled “Python in practice”, is more interesting, guiding learners to build a Python program to open and iterate information in a TXT log file.

Is this course difficult?

If you’re an experienced Python programmer, you’ll breeze through this course in much less time than the estimated 25 hours. If you’re new to programming, you’ll want to slow down and take your time to understand all of the new concepts.

The programming labs in this course are ungraded with answers provided. There are no challenging programming assignments in this course that you’ll need to submit and re-submit to an auto-grader. Step-by-step instructions are provided for the final portfolio project.

The only graded assignments are multiple choice quizzes at the end of each section.

Is this course worth it?

Whether this course is worth your time (and money) depends on what your goals are. If you’re aiming to complete Google’s cybersecurity certificate, this course is required. Likewise, if you’re getting into the cybersecurity field and want to add Python as a skill in your skillset, this course will be a fun and familiar introduction for you. But if you’re already a Python programmer and you’re hoping to learn advanced security automation scripts, you’ll likely find this course underwhelming.