---
title: "AI Engineer learning path — free courses & certificates"
description: "Build, evaluate and ship production AI: APIs, RAG, agents, MCP, evals, security and open models. 14 free courses, about 102 hours, a certificate for each."
url: https://optimizeall.com/learn/paths/ai-engineer
updated: 2026-10-05
---

Learning path · Advanced · 14 free courses · about 102 hours

# AI Engineer learning path

Build, evaluate and ship production AI: APIs, RAG, agents, MCP, evals, security and open models

[Start the first course](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations)

## About this path

A hands-on route from your first well-structured prompt to AI systems you would trust in production. You start with prompting fundamentals and the major model APIs, then build retrieval-augmented generation, tool-using agents and Model Context Protocol servers. From there you learn the engineering discipline that separates a demo from a product: evaluation suites, tracing and observability, cost and latency budgets, and security testing against prompt injection and data leakage. The final stretch covers agentic coding workflows, voice and computer-use agents, running open-weight models locally and when fine-tuning is actually worth it.

Every course is free, includes copy-pasteable code with secrets kept in environment variables, and ends with a certificate you can add to LinkedIn. Courses are listed in the recommended order; skip any you already know.

## What you will be able to do

- Call the major model APIs reliably with streaming, tool use, structured output and retries
- Design and evaluate RAG pipelines and tool-using agents for real business tasks
- Build and secure Model Context Protocol servers that connect models to your systems
- Measure quality with eval suites and tracing before and after every change
- Test AI features for prompt injection, data leakage and unsafe tool use
- Choose between hosted, open-weight and fine-tuned models on evidence, not hype

## Who it is for

- Developers adding AI features to products or internal tools
- Technical marketers and founders who want to build, not just prompt
- Engineers moving from prototypes to production AI systems

## Courses in order

- [1. Prompt Engineering Foundations](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations): A friendly, practical start: clear prompts, thinking modes, files and images, and a personal library of 50+ prompt patterns · 16 lessons · badge: Certified Prompt Engineering Practitioner
- [2. Advanced Prompt Engineering](https://optimizeall.com/learn/advanced-prompt-engineering): Context engineering, structured outputs, thinking controls, tool and agent prompts, caching, evals and optimisation for production · 17 lessons · badge: Certified Advanced Prompt Engineer
- [3. Integrating AI Platforms: Claude, OpenAI, Gemini and Open Models via API](https://optimizeall.com/learn/ai-platform-apis-integration): Production-grade integration of Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, cloud platforms and open models: formats, tools, cost, reliability, security · 19 lessons · badge: Certified AI Platform Integration Engineer
- [4. Mastering Claude (Anthropic)](https://optimizeall.com/learn/mastering-claude): From expert prompting to Projects, Artifacts, agentic tasks, Skills, connectors, Claude Code and API integrations, safely · 20 lessons · badge: Certified Claude Power User
- [5. Latest AI Techniques: RAG, Tool Use, Agents & MCP](https://optimizeall.com/learn/latest-ai-techniques-rag-agents-mcp): Embeddings, RAG, context engineering, tool calling, agents, MCP and the open agent standards, with hands-on code · 20 lessons · badge: Certified AI Agent Builder
- [6. Model Context Protocol (MCP): Connect AI to Your Tools and Data](https://optimizeall.com/learn/model-context-protocol-mcp): Design, build, secure and ship MCP servers and clients that connect Claude, ChatGPT, IDEs and agents to real business systems · 18 lessons · badge: Certified MCP Integration Engineer
- [7. Building Production AI Agents](https://optimizeall.com/learn/ai-agents-engineering): Design, build, secure, evaluate and ship AI agents that work reliably with real tools, data and people · 18 lessons · badge: Certified Production AI Agent Engineer
- [8. AI-Assisted Software Development: Coding Agents in Practice](https://optimizeall.com/learn/agentic-coding-with-ai): Ship reviewed, tested code with Claude Code, Codex, Copilot and Cursor: context engineering, guardrails, CI and governance · 17 lessons · badge: Certified AI-Assisted Software Engineer
- [9. Evaluating and Monitoring LLM Applications](https://optimizeall.com/learn/llm-evals-and-observability): Evals, LLM-as-judge, RAG and agent evaluation, CI regression suites and OpenTelemetry-based observability in production · 16 lessons · badge: Certified LLM Evaluation Engineer
- [10. AI Security: Prompt Injection, Data Leakage and Red Teaming](https://optimizeall.com/learn/ai-security-and-red-teaming): Threat-model, attack and harden LLM apps and agents using OWASP, MITRE ATLAS and NIST guidance, garak, PyRIT and promptfoo · 17 lessons · badge: Certified AI Security Practitioner
- [11. Open-Weight and Local AI: Run, Choose and Deploy Your Own Models](https://optimizeall.com/learn/open-source-and-local-llms): Licenses, model families, quantization, VRAM sizing, Ollama, llama.cpp, vLLM, edge AI, privacy and hybrid routing · 16 lessons · badge: Certified Open-Weight AI Engineer
- [12. Fine-Tuning, Distillation and Custom Models](https://optimizeall.com/learn/fine-tuning-and-custom-models): When not to fine-tune, data curation, SFT, LoRA/QLoRA, DPO, GRPO, distillation, embeddings, evaluation, cost and deployment · 16 lessons · badge: Certified Custom Model Engineer
- [13. Voice AI & Conversational Agents](https://optimizeall.com/learn/voice-ai-agents): Design, build, test and launch voice agents with ElevenLabs, OpenAI Realtime and telephony, in English, Arabic and Urdu · 17 lessons · badge: Certified Voice AI Agent Builder
- [14. Computer-Use and Browser Agents: AI That Operates Software](https://optimizeall.com/learn/computer-use-and-browser-agents): Build, secure and govern AI agents that see screens, click, type and audit websites, with humans in control · 16 lessons · badge: Certified Computer-Use Agent Engineer

## Badges you earn along the way

- Certified Prompt Engineering Practitioner — Prompt Engineering Foundations
- Certified Advanced Prompt Engineer — Advanced Prompt Engineering
- Certified AI Platform Integration Engineer — Integrating AI Platforms: Claude, OpenAI, Gemini and Open Models via API
- Certified Claude Power User — Mastering Claude (Anthropic)
- Certified AI Agent Builder — Latest AI Techniques: RAG, Tool Use, Agents & MCP
- Certified MCP Integration Engineer — Model Context Protocol (MCP): Connect AI to Your Tools and Data
- Certified Production AI Agent Engineer — Building Production AI Agents
- Certified AI-Assisted Software Engineer — AI-Assisted Software Development: Coding Agents in Practice
- Certified LLM Evaluation Engineer — Evaluating and Monitoring LLM Applications
- Certified AI Security Practitioner — AI Security: Prompt Injection, Data Leakage and Red Teaming
- Certified Open-Weight AI Engineer — Open-Weight and Local AI: Run, Choose and Deploy Your Own Models
- Certified Custom Model Engineer — Fine-Tuning, Distillation and Custom Models
- Certified Voice AI Agent Builder — Voice AI & Conversational Agents
- Certified Computer-Use Agent Engineer — Computer-Use and Browser Agents: AI That Operates Software