Roadmaps for the AI era
The skills that compound in 2026 — working confidently with AI, asking it the right way, putting AI tools to work, and the judgment to know when. Classical paths are still here, just below.
Survive the AI era4 roadmaps
Everyone needs these. The minimum to operate in 2026.
AI Literacy 101
What models actually are, what they can’t do, and when to trust them.
Prompt Engineering
From "ChatGPT please help" to instructions that consistently produce what you want.
Context Engineering
90% of "AI is bad at X" is "you fed it bad context". Fix the context, not the model.
Build AI things4 roadmaps
Build real AI products: assistants that act, answer from your own docs, and serve a niche.
AI Agents 101
What an agent actually is, when to use one (and when a single prompt wins).
Build a Niche Assistant
Pick one task you do weekly. Ship a focused AI assistant for it. End with something you actually use.
RAG: Answers grounded in your own docs
The technique that turns "AI hallucinates about my docs" into "AI knows my docs cold".
AI engineering4 roadmaps
For engineers running AI in the real world. The trade-offs and the day-to-day of keeping it live.
Prompt vs RAG vs Fine-tune
The decision matrix. When each one wins, the cost-quality-latency triangle, the no-regret defaults.
Multi-Agent Systems
When more AI specialists help — and when they're just for show. The pattern behind a team of AI working together.
Evaluation & Measurement
How do you know your AI got better? Build an eval set. Make it the source of truth.
Human edge skills5 roadmaps
The skills that compound as AI grows. Strategy, taste, ethics.
Judgment & Taste
AI can build the wrong thing 100× faster. The skill that pays in 2030 is picking the right thing.
Strategic Thinking
System-2 work that AI can’t do for you. Where to play, how to win, what to skip.
Storytelling & Communication
AI built it. Now sell it. The skill that turns "shipped" into "adopted".
Domain Expertise + AI
10 years in healthcare + 6 months of AI beats 10 years of AI. Bet on what only YOU know.
Foundations (classical)6 roadmaps
Classical engineering paths. Solid, but optional in the AI era.
Web Foundations
From HTML/CSS to a deployed Next.js app. The shortest serious path to shipping the web.
Modern Backend
Node.js, Postgres, REST + auth, deployed. The path from "I can write JS" to shipping APIs.
AI App Development
Ship a real AI app. From your first prompt to a tool-using agent with a budget cap.
n8n Automation
From your first webhook to a self-hosted n8n that runs your business automations.
Python for Data
Python → Pandas → matplotlib → first ML model. The path most data jobs actually use.
Don't see what you want?
Sensei builds a custom path for any topic. Just tell her "teach me X" in chat.