The Mandola Academy · Cohort-based

A Python apprenticeship,
not a bootcamp.

22 weeks. 8 modules. Every topic taught on a real task from the course codebase — the same codebase Mandola AI ships to paying clients — with the tool named so you can go deeper.

Apply for the next cohort

22

Weeks, class-by-class

8

Portfolio deliverables

1

Language: Python

100%

Taught on real code

The curriculum

Curriculum at a glance.

Each module is a block of weeks that ends in a portfolio deliverable. The full class-by-class breakdown lives in the companion syllabus.

Module 01

Environment & Execution Foundations

Get any unfamiliar Python project running cleanly — no “works on my machine”.

Weeks 1–2

6 classes

  • uv, venv & pyproject.toml
  • pathlib & project layout
  • the execution model (__name__)
  • types & safe casting
  • f-strings & injection-safe inputs
  • nested JSON & input validation

Deliverable

→ Project template

Module 02

Legacy Code Remediation & Refactoring

The highest-paid skill: fixing and refactoring code that already exists and is broken.

Weeks 3–4

6 classes

  • mutable defaults & hidden mutation
  • copies, aliasing & deepcopy
  • fail-safe exception design
  • context managers & resource leaks
  • decomposing monolith scripts
  • OOP-vs-functional judgment

Deliverable

→ Refactored pipeline

Module 03

Testing & Debugging

Walk into an untested legacy app, wrap it safely, and change it without breaking it.

Weeks 5–7

7 classes

  • pdb & breakpoint()
  • VS Code debugger: breakpoints, watches, stepping
  • sync/async tracebacks
  • pytest & fixtures
  • characterization (golden-master) tests
  • mocking (unittest.mock, freezegun)
  • Hypothesis, coverage.py, ruff & mypy

Deliverable

→ Regression-safe suite

Module 04

FastAPI Backends & Async APIs

Build concurrent, fault-tolerant web services on the modern Python backend.

Weeks 8–10

7 classes

  • HTTP fundamentals & status codes
  • resilient API clients (auth, retries, backoff)
  • FastAPI async routes
  • validation with Pydantic
  • async/await & asyncio
  • concurrency, workers & background jobs
  • rate limits, timeouts & circuit breakers

Deliverable

→ FastAPI service

Module 05

Data, SQL & RAG Systems

Ingest messy client data, fix the database layer, and build semantic search / RAG.

Weeks 11–13

7 classes

  • cleaning messy CSV/Excel/text
  • SQL & indexing for real apps
  • joins & reporting bugs
  • schema design for AI apps
  • embeddings & semantic search (pgvector)
  • chunking & document ingestion
  • RAG retrieval diagnostics

Deliverable

→ End-to-end RAG

Module 06

AI Agents, Security & Deployment

Ship agentic features, pass a security audit, and deploy to the cloud in containers.

Weeks 14–16

6 classes

  • token budgeting & structured JSON output
  • LLM tool calling & failure handling
  • agent loops, state & memory
  • OWASP Top 10 & prompt-injection defense
  • secrets & dependency audits (gitleaks, pip-audit, bandit)
  • Docker, Docker Compose, GitHub Actions & Sentry

Deliverable

→ Audit + fix PRs

Module 07

Frontend for Python Engineers

Put a real UI on your FastAPI backend so you can ship — and sell — full-stack work.

Weeks 17–19

6 classes

  • HTML & CSS essentials
  • JavaScript, the DOM & fetch
  • React components, props, state & hooks
  • talking to FastAPI (forms, auth, errors)
  • streaming & realtime LLM UI (SSE)
  • building & deploying the frontend

Deliverable

→ Live React frontend

Module 08

Capstone — Legacy Rescue & Client Delivery

A genuine legacy codebase, brought up to standard and delivered like a paid engagement.

Weeks 20–22

4 classes

  • refactor-vs-rewrite & strangler-fig
  • feature flags for safe rollout
  • full-stack delivery (backend + frontend)
  • monitoring, alerts & incident response
  • README, runbooks & decision records
  • scoping, pricing & the before/after demo

Deliverable

→ Client-ready delivery

The full toolkit

Introduced on the task that needs it.

No frameworks-for-frameworks-sake. Every tool below shows up when a real problem in the course codebase demands it.

  • Python
  • uv
  • VS Code
  • git
  • GitHub
  • pdb
  • pytest
  • coverage.py
  • unittest.mock
  • freezegun
  • Hypothesis
  • ruff
  • mypy
  • FastAPI
  • Pydantic
  • asyncio
  • Redis
  • SQL/Postgres
  • pgvector
  • gitleaks
  • pip-audit
  • bandit
  • Docker
  • Docker Compose
  • GitHub Actions
  • Sentry
  • HTML/CSS
  • JavaScript
  • React

Ready?

Join the next Mandola cohort.

Small groups. Weekly live sessions. Code reviews from engineers who ship Python for a living. Applications open on a rolling basis.