inferLearn
Free Field Guide INFERLEARN · 2026

The map from backend engineer
to Applied AI Engineer.

The exact route to shipping production AI systems — the skills, the order, and the projects that prove it. No hype, no "30 days to AI mastery." Just the map we're walking ourselves, in public.

2,140 engineers already have it · built in the open · zero fluff

CHART · SHEET 2 FULL ROUTE · ALL FOUR PHASES
14 9 21 YOU ARE HERE PHASE 0 PHASE 1 PHASE 2 CAPSTONE N Applied-AI Frontier FULL ROUTE — 4 PHASES SURVEYED IN PUBLIC · MMXXVI
You're not behind because you're not good.

You're unsure because the map you trained on is being redrawn — and most of what's online is either panic or hype. This is the third option: the actual route, plotted by someone a few chapters ahead and shipping in public.

§ 03 — What's inside the roadmap

The route, exactly.

Specific skills, honest sequencing, no hand-waving. Enough to judge whether it's worth your email — the full version is the download.

Phase 0 · Base Camp
BASE CAMP · API-01

The Bridge

  • LLM mental model for engineers
  • Model APIs, async & streaming
  • Prompt fundamentals
  • Cost & token thinking
Ship: your first model-powered call
Phase 1 · The Ascent
RAG / AGENTS / EVAL

Application Engineering

  • LLM APIs, prompting, structured outputs, function calling
  • RAG: chunking, embeddings, vector DBs, retrieval, re-ranking
  • Agents & tool-calling, multi-step workflows, orchestration
  • Basic evaluation & guardrails
  • Deploy a real application
Ship: a deployed RAG application
↑ WHERE TUTORIALS STOP
Phase 2 · High Ground
OBS · FINETUNE · SERVE

Production Depth

  • Evaluation & observability
  • Fine-tuning: LoRA/PEFT, dataset prep, honest tradeoffs
  • Model serving & inference optimization
  • MLOps: versioning, CI/CD, monitoring, regression
  • Production reliability, failure modes, cost control
Ship: an eval & observability harness
Summit · Capstone
DEPLOYED · MONITORED

The Crossing

  • One production-grade AI system, fully deployed
  • Monitored, documented, the complete chain
  • Portfolio packaging & AI interview prep
Ship: your flag on the other side
The layer that makes the difference

Most tutorials and bootcamps stop at Phase 1 — they teach you to build a demo. Phase 2 is what makes that demo production-ready: evaluation, observability, fine-tuning tradeoffs, inference optimization, MLOps, and reliability. These are the skills on AI engineering job descriptions. They're what inferLearn is built to teach.

§ 04 — Why this map

Three things worth verifying before handing over your email.

The map is free. The route is exact. The email is the only ask.

§ 06 — Right fit, not more signups

The expedition isn't for everyone.

This is for you if
  • Backend or full-stack engineer, 3–7 years of experience
  • Comfortable shipping code — this isn't for beginners
  • You want to build production AI, not collect certificates
  • Skeptical of hype and want to see the actual work
  • Ready to put in real hours on real projects
This isn't for you if
  • Brand-new programmers — the prerequisite is being able to code
  • You're looking for a no-effort shortcut or a magic prompt
  • You want AI theory and research, not engineering
  • You need a job guarantee before you'll do the work
§ 07 — What this is and isn't
  • It's free. No card, no trial, no hidden paywall.
  • It's a roadmap, not a guarantee. It shows the route; you walk it.
  • One email a week at most. No blasts. Unsubscribe any time. Never sold.
  • Yes, we run paid cohorts. The roadmap stands alone. There's no drip of pressure to upgrade.

The map is free. The route is exact.

2,140 engineers already on the route

§ 09 — Common questions
Is it actually free?
Yes, completely. No card, no trial, no "free tier" that upsells after three emails. The roadmap is the product.
Do I need an ML or maths background?
No. You need to be able to ship code. This is software engineering applied to AI systems — not research, not academia.
How long does the path take?
It depends on your hours. The roadmap is sequenced so you can move at your own pace. Shipping Phase 0 can take a weekend. The full route is months of real work.
What happens to my email?
You get the roadmap, then a weekly dispatch — build notes, what broke, what's next. Unsubscribe any time. Never sold, never shared.
Is this just a funnel for a paid cohort?
We do run cohorts. The roadmap is built to stand alone as the most useful free resource for this transition — that's the point. You won't be pressured to upgrade.