Part 1: 21 weeks · 168 sessions · Part 2: the project ladder
The plan, week by week
Every week runs Monday to Sunday around your 18:30–07:00 night shifts: three light 45-minute sessions, four core sessions and an optional Friday flex block. When Week 21 is done, Part 2 – the project ladder – unlocks.
Phase 1 · Python from zero
Mac, Git and Python from zero
Set up your Mac, learn the Terminal and Git, and write your first Python.
Loops and exceptions, with lots of small practice.
Libraries, automated tests and files.
Classes and three small tested projects: the Phase 1 capstone.
Phase 2 · Data & APIs
Interview problems, data and APIs
Phase 3 · LLM engineering
LLM engineering: prompts, tools, RAG, evals, agents, MCP
Buffer week
Catch up, consolidate, rest
Phase 3 · LLM engineering (continued)
LLM engineering: prompts, tools, RAG, evals, agents, MCP
Prompting, structured output, tool use, and Project 1.
Embeddings, a vector database, and RAG v1 (Project 2).
Evaluate your RAG system properly.
Polish P2 (hybrid search, local models) and start agents.
MCP and agent evaluation: finish Project 3.
Buffer week
Catch up, consolidate, rest
Phase 4 · ML foundations
ML foundations and LoRA on your Mac
Buffer week
Catch up, consolidate, rest
Phase 5 · Full-stack & capstone
FastAPI, TypeScript, React, agentic tools, deployment and your capstone
Phase 6 · Portfolio & jobs
Portfolio, interviews and applications
Part 2 · The project ladder
After Week 21: 22 harder projects, unlocked one at a time
Rebuild the foundations
Rebuild something everyone uses and check it against the original. Laptop or a cheap rented GPU.
Small-model research on one GPU
Interpretability and post-training questions you can answer on a 0.5–3B model for under a few hundred pounds.
Performance engineering with a public bar
Scoreboards and thresholds set by the labs themselves. Your number is either below the bar or it isn’t.
Frontier safety replications
Small-scale replications of recent alignment papers. Expensive and open-ended: scope tightly.
Flagship research
Eight 5–9 month projects built on research the labs published in 2025–2026. Pick one. Each has a week-8 milestone (M1) that is publishable on its own.
Ship it and apply
Turn your best result – ideally a flagship M1 – into a write-up and an application.