AI Application Developer
This path is for building AI features into software, not for training models. It starts with accurate mental models — what a language model does and does not do — because most failed AI projects begin with a wrong assumption rather than a coding mistake.
You then build: call a model from code, get structured output you can validate, connect it to your own documents through retrieval, and add the evaluation and guardrails that separate a demo from something operable.
The path treats model output as untrusted input throughout. That single discipline prevents most of the problems AI features run into.
Prerequisites
- Ability to program in at least one language
- Understanding of HTTP APIs
The route
Take these in order. Each step exists because the previous one left something unresolved.
- AI & Generative AI for Developers
Foundations, prompting, retrieval, agents, evaluation and cost.
Python and FastAPI as needed
Enough Python to build the orchestration service, if you do not already have it.
Checkpoint — practice, not a course
- Security for Developers
Prompt injection and data boundaries make this more relevant than it first appears.
- Docker & Containers
Package the AI service for deployment.
Build the knowledge assistant
Retrieval over a document set, with evaluation and guardrails in place.
Checkpoint — practice, not a course
Projects in this path
Reading alone will not get you there. These are the builds that turn the material into something you can actually do.
AI Knowledge Assistant
The flagship AI project: a full assistant with retrieval, tool use, conversation, guardrails, evaluation and cost tracking.
Document Question Answering
Your first retrieval project: ask questions about a set of documents and get answers grounded in them, with citations.
Technologies in this path
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Professional Engineering Practices
The difference between code that works and code a team can maintain for years: architecture, testing discipline and security.
Open Professional Engineering PracticesHave a project worth talking through?
Tell us what you're building or what's slowing your current system down. We'll give you a direct read on scope and approach.