Reddit reviews Bioinformatics Programming Using Python: Practical Programming for Biological Data

I can tell you what I think was the most importent stuff we have been doing so far in my bachelor.

BioChemistry

• Properties of aminoacids, peptides and proteins
  
• Function of proteins and enzymes
  
• enzyme kinetics
  
  Cellbiology
  
  
• Organisation of eukaryotic cells
  
• Development from one celled organisms to multicelled orgaism and evolution
  
• Compartiments of the cell and their functions and morphology(this includes stuff like DNA replication and ATP Synthasis and translation and transcription of proteins)
  
• Transportmechanisms of small and big molecules from outside the cell to the inside and vice versa . transportation within the cell as well(eg endocythic pathway)
  
• Signaltransduction
  
  IT Basics
  
  
• Boolean Logic
  
• Understanding of the number representation systems(eg. binar or hex)
  
• Understanding of floating point representation and why it leads to rounding errors
  
• Understanding the Neuman Architecture
  
• Basics of graph theory
  
• Grammars
  
• Automata and Touring Machines
  
• Basics of InformationTheory(eg. Entropy)
  
• Basics of Datacompressions (not very important in your case)
  
• Basic Hashing Algorithms
  
• Runtime analysis(all the O notation stuff)
  
  Operating Systems
  
  
• Basics of linux(eg commands like cd, mkdir, ls, mv, check this out )
  
• basic programms within linux(eg grep, wget, nano )
  
• basics of bash programming
  
  BioinformaticsBasics
  
  
• Pairwise Sequence Alignment
  
• Database Similarity Search
  
• Multiple Sequence Alignment
  
• Hidden Markov Models
  
• Gene and promoter Prediction
  
• Phylogenetic basics
  
• Protein and RNA 3D structure prediction
  
  So this is just supposed to be some kind of reference you can use to learning. You probably don't need to work through all of this.
  But I strongly suggest reading about Biochemistry and Cellbiology(a nice book is Molecular Biology of the Cell) as it is really important for understanding bioinformatics.
  Also give the link I posted in the Operating System part a look. Try to just use linux for a month as a lot of bioinformatics applications are written for linux and its nice to see the contrast to windows.
  Regarding programming I suggest you search for a book that combines python + bioinformatics(something like this). If you want to focus on the programming part you would ideally start in ASM then switch to C then to Java and then to python.(Just to give you an impression why: ASM gives you a great insight into how the CPU works and how it acesses RAM. C is on a higher level and you start thinking about organising data and defining its structure in RAM. Java adds another layer onto that - you get objects, which make it easy for you to organize your data in blocks and there is no need for you to manage the RAM by hand with pointers like in C. But you still need to tell your variables specifically what they are. So if you have a variable that safes a Text in it you have to declare it as a string. Finally you arrived at python which is a scripting language. There is no more need for you to tell variables what they are - the compiler decides it automatically. All the annoying parts are automated. So your code becomes shorter as you don't need to type as much. The philosophy behind scripting languages is mostly to provide languages that are designed for humans not for machines).But it is kind of a overkill in your situation. Just focus on python. One final thing regarding programming just keep practicing. It is really hard at the beginning but once you get it, it starts making fun to programm as it becomes a creative way of expressing your logic.
  Let's get to the bioinforamtics part. I don't think you really need to study this really hard but it's nice to be ahead of your commilitones. I recommand reading this book. You might also check out Rosalind and practice your python on some bioinformatics problems.
  Edit: If you want I can send you some books as pdf files if you PM me your email adress
  

I am a working R&D bioinformatician, and for the most part the people advising you are correct. There are jobs, and they do pay well. Doesn't pay as well as computer science, but it is a great use of a bio degree. Bioinformatics as a job is much more like computer science than wet lab biology. There are some really great things going on with this field - and with the aging population, I think it is a growth industry.

As for what you need to get a job:
You absolutely have to write code. You should learn R. You should also know a language like Perl / Python (my preference). You should also know your way around linux - at least a little bit. Statistics / Data Analysis classes are available on coursera.

For a good career in bioinformatics, I think the best thing to do would be to pursue a PhD in biostatistics.

edit:
This is a great book to pick up python for biologists.
http://www.amazon.com/Bioinformatics-Programming-Using-Python-Biological/dp/059615450X

I think you're asking the wrong question. Once you learn the basics, you won't have any shortage of project ideas. The best project idea is a project you care about, something you want to be real. I learned Python syntax and general rudimentary CS principles by doing every exercise in Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science by John Zelle. After that, I decided to write a GUI-based card game (phase 10) with AI player logic, card graphics, player avatars, and multiple interactive windows. That's when I really learned how to program.

For the basics, Sentdex is also an excellent instructor, but you'll want to find his early "learn python" videos before you tackle his project videos, because his project videos assume you have some programming experience. If you find yourself copying code in the tutorial without knowing what the code does, you might not learn much from the rest of the video.

I would avoid O'Reilly books; some are OK, but many are very poorly-written. I tried this one and spent 80% of the time debugging the example code in the book, not learning what I set out to learn. (Reading the BioPython documentation was 10x more productive for that purpose.)

After you complete some beginner training (book, tutorial series, or whatever), you'll know what you want to build. You won't know how to build it, but you'll know enough of the basics to figure out how to build it. That's when your programming education will really start - when you know the basics and have a project you care about, you'll obsess over making it work.

If you want to stick with Python and physics/biochem I would probably take a look at these two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Programming-Computational-Science-Engineering/dp/3642183654/

http://www.amazon.com/Bioinformatics-Programming-Using-Python-Biological/dp/059615450X/

I haven't used them so I can't vouch for them but they seem like they would be useful.