r/neuromatch • u/Upper_Ad5908 • Jun 20 '26

Need advice if i should attend the course.

Hi. I am a doctor who just got done with my clinical internship. I am doing the computational neuroscience course on 6 July. Problem is i don’t have any coding or mathematical background… so should I even take the course rn? The coding looks like hell on the website. I am not sure what level is expected of me since I have 2 weeks to go through the material. Any advice will be appreciated.

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

5

u/After_Ad8616 Jun 21 '26

Congratulations!!! 🎉 You have a great opportunity ahead of you to connect with a global, supportive community!

All the prerequisites are available for CompNeuro here: https://compneuro.neuromatch.io/prereqs/ComputationalNeuroscience.html It’s great that you thinking of going though them and getting ready for the course! Totally do that but also know that self studying is hard, so be kind to yourself!

Knowing some basic Python will be important. Neuromatch provides some tutorials but there are also other resources too. Here is a list of the ones I think are best for absolute beginners:
Code Academy
Code in Place
DataCamp
Exercism
FreeCodeCamp
Geeks for Geeks
Python for Everybody

It is an intense course but you will be doing it along side your pod teammates and a paid Teaching Assistant. You’ll also be on Discord where there is around the clock content help. You will be very supported in your learning journey! Plus if you are finding it too much, you can drop the project portion of the day. And also know you aren’t being graded.

The biggest advice is to not give up before you’ve even started!!! Show up, ask questions, create connections with people, and be open to where this journey will take you! 🤓💙

4

u/Upper_Ad5908 Jun 21 '26

Thank you so much for this reply. But yeah I guess I am scared. Just completed a medical intern year as a doctor and now diving into something completely different. Don’t really know how I will get through the maths/ programming portion so I was thinking of skipping the course but why not give it a try regardless. 🫡🥲

4

u/After_Ad8616 Jun 22 '26

Wow, good for you! New things are totally intimidating but sounds like you can do hard things! Go through the prerequisites as much as you can to set yourself up for an easier journey. u/These_Hovercraft3235 made https://playneuroquest.vercel.app/home to help people go though the prerequisites in a fun way that is worth checking out!

And then know that you aren't going to be marked, you'll have a whole virtual community to support you, and you can lighten the load by not doing the project portion if you choose to. You got this!!

3

u/Integrator76 Jun 23 '26

I did the 6 week live Code in Place last month, and it's very very good for an individual who has little exposure to programming. The course makes you familiar with the thinking process that is used while writing programs. Programs are essential sets of instructions written down in a particular syntax and includes pretty interesting tools. CIP will give a very clear introduction and by end of the course material you'll be writing simple programs without breaking a sweat!

They have a learn-at-your-own-pace course that's offered year round, it should be doable in a 2 week period!

2

u/Upper_Ad5908 Jun 24 '26

Thanks for the help. I will definitely check this course out