Zero to AI Engineer

7 chapters.

An honest, read-only course on the new shape of software engineering. Side-by-side: traditional vs AI-era. How working engineers actually ship now. What skills the new role rewards. What companies test for. The mindset that survives the next ten model releases.

7 chapters · 37 units · ~4 hours of reading + doing

1. Ch 0

   Start here

   Psychological · light build

   What this is. Who it's for. The honest test for whether to keep reading.

   4 units · ~23 min

   • 0.0What this isfree5 min
   • 0.1The honest testfree4 min
   • 0.2Will AI take more jobs or create more jobs?free7 min
   • 0.3Will developers be replaced by AI?free7 min
   Start chapter 0 →
2. Ch 1

   The role has changed

   PEAK · most weight

   Every five years the engineer's day reshapes. Traditional vs AI-era, side by side, without hype.

   7 units · ~44 min

   • 1.0Every five years, the engineer's day reshapesfree6 min
   • 1.1What a traditional engineer's day looked likefree6 min
   • 1.2What an AI-era engineer's day looks likefree6 min
   • 1.3The skill stack, side by sidefree7 min
   • 1.4What got harder. What got easier. What disappeared.free6 min
   • 1.5The myths and what's actually happeningfree7 min
   • 1.6The new shape of the teamfree6 min
   Start chapter 1 →
3. Ch 2

   How engineers actually work now

   PEAK · most weight

   The new loop: think, spec, AI codes, verify, ship. What gets typed by humans, what gets generated, what gets watched.

   7 units · ~45 min

   • 2.0The new loop: think, spec, generate, verify, shipfree6 min
   • 2.1What humans type nowfree6 min
   • 2.2What AI types nowfree6 min
   • 2.3The art of watching AI codefree7 min
   • 2.4What AI gets wrong, every timefree7 min
   • 2.5The new bottleneck (it isn't typing speed)free6 min
   • 2.6The new 10x engineerfree7 min
   Start chapter 2 →
4. Ch 3

   The skills that matter now

   Medium intensity

   What the new role rewards. What it doesn't. Both honest.

   5 units · ~31 min

   • 3.0Taste — knowing what's good before you can prove itfree6 min
   • 3.1Specification — saying clearly what you wantfree6 min
   • 3.2Verification — knowing what to trustfree6 min
   • 3.3Architecture — composing systems above the AIfree7 min
   • 3.4What got less valuable (and why that's a feature)free6 min
   Start chapter 3 →
5. Ch 4

   The career path

   Medium intensity

   What hiring looks like now. What junior actually means in 2026. How to grow without waiting ten years.

   5 units · ~33 min

   • 4.0The new ladder — junior, senior, staff in the AI erafree7 min
   • 4.1What companies test for nowfree7 min
   • 4.2What junior engineers actually do nowfree6 min
   • 4.3The senior engineer in the AI erafree7 min
   • 4.4What interviews still grade you onfree6 min
   Start chapter 4 →
6. Ch 5

   The mindset

   Emotional high point

   The four habits that keep an engineer cutting-edge across the next ten model releases.

   4 units · ~23 min

   • 5.0The cutting edge is a practice, not a placefree5 min
   • 5.1The four habits of AI-era engineersfree7 min
   • 5.2How to keep learning when the field shifts monthlyfree6 min
   • 5.3The trap of chasing every model releasefree5 min
   Start chapter 5 →
7. Ch 6

   Where to go next

   Medium intensity

   Honest pointers to the rest of the platform. The hardest part is done.

   5 units · ~21 min

   • 6.0Prompt with intention → Vibe to Specfree4 min
   • 6.1Ship AI features that survive users → Prompt to Productionfree4 min
   • 6.2The patterns of AI engineering → API to Architecturefree4 min
   • 6.3A senior offer at a top company → Question to Offerfree4 min
   • 6.4You've already done the hardest partfree5 min
   Start chapter 6 →