How long can it take at least to learn web scraping from zero

Hello guys I have zero knowledge on programming and I just wanna ask how long it will take me to learn web scraping until be able to build automation bots and other similar tools?

It depends on your programming level, your targeted websites. It may take 6 months or less from zero.
Web scraping differs from site to site, but basic tool starts from analyzing HTML and DOM structure.
Python is very convenient language to implement web scraping. BeautifulSoup library or Scrapy framework is preferred based on your target type and automation level.
There are some websites which is throttling or using javascript to load components. You will need to use puppeteer like headless browsers. Plus, most websites are throttling requests to avoid scraping. Thus you need to limit your requests per second or hour.
Bypassing captcha requires more effort. There are some third party websites which support such features. You can integrate it into your implementation.

It depends what you plan to scrape: Google search results (complicated) or random websites?

ResearchMethods said:

It depends what you plan to scrape: Google search results (complicated) or random websites?

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how is search engine results complicated? it was the easiest for me to scrape, and for a very large scale i mean

Zhen said:

Hello guys I have zero knowledge on programming and I just wanna ask how long it will take me to learn web scraping until be able to build automation bots and other similar tools?

Click to expand...

1 week full time and you've got a solid foundation You have very, very simple tools, and I know people who start scraping with apps like Automa, for example, and do very well.

depends if you really want to learn how to code it yourself, or if you just use the easy way out and put a few libs together (that do all the work without you having to code it) with a easy language like python. if you want to code it yourself and be a real coder, then it takes time, if you just want to "get it done somehow" then maybe a week or two depending how much effort you put behind it.

I used a corsea course and it took about 12 hours to get the basics of python down. after that its just a lot of practice. you could get the initial start of it all in just a few days and then just have to push yourself to keep practicing and learning

If you put in some effort, you will be able to start scraping websites within 2 weeks.
Of course, some sites require more advanced knowledge, but you always have Google and AI at your disposal.

Good luck!

you need to have basic knowledge in proagramming, onc eyou got that it won't take long to be able to scrape some websites

If you're starting from zero, expect around 2-3 months to get the basics of Python and web scraping, especially if you dedicate a few hours a week. Once you get comfortable with libraries like BeautifulSoup and Selenium, you can start building simple automation bots. The key is consistency, focus on small projects first, and you’ll pick it up faster than you think