thing.py

import random

query = 'insert into employees (emp_id, first_name, surname, salary, dept_id, comm_pct) VALUES ("%s", "%s", "%s", %d, "%s", %s);'

def get_id(name, surname):
    return "%s%s%02d" % (name[0], surname[0], random.randint(0, 99))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    names = [line.rstrip() for line in open("first-names.txt")]
    surnames = [line.rstrip() for line in open("names.txt")]
    departments = ["COM1", "Sal1", "Its1", "Mkt1"]

    for i in range(50):
        name = random.choice(names)
        surname = random.choice(surnames)
        emp_id = get_id(name, surname)
        dept_id = random.choice(departments)
        salary = random.randint(20000, 60000)
        comm_pct = random.randint(0, 10) / 100
        if comm_pct == 0:
            comm_pct = "null"

        print(query % (emp_id, name, surname, salary, dept_id, comm_pct))