I got several questions along the lines of “Do I need programming skills to attend the Building Network Automation Solutions course?”

Short answer: No.

As an aside: while programming won't be a mandatory part of the course, knowing a bit of Python never hurts (that's why I put two online Python 101 classes on the "additional recommended materials" list).

However, you’ll be able to do most of the assignments in pure Ansible. While that might get a bit tedious and convoluted (and would be better served with a Python plugin) it can be done. The most important part is to understand what can be done, what tools to use to get the job done in a reasonably optimum way, and when/where to ask for help.

However, you will have to master what academics call computational thinking - the ability to split large problems into smaller pieces, and to describe individual pieces as a sequence of well-defined steps.

So don’t be afraid – you’ll get the job done no matter what. However, it won’t hurt if you register for the course ;)