How to Become an AI Developer & Get Hired

Your career path

What You'll Learn

Learn to build and scale generative AI applications using machine learning models
Build an AI-first career and set yourself apart from others by being at the cutting-edge of the AI revolution
Utilize leading Large Language Models via the OpenAI API, Gemini API, Amazon Bedrock and more
Learn the most in-demand AI skills from scratch including Prompt Engineering, Python, Algorithms and more
Leverage closed and open source LLMs for your applications
Master advanced skills and tools including Retrieval-Augmented Generation, LangChain, Streamlit, and Pinecone

Course

Beginner

27 Hours ·255 Lessons Prompt Engineering Bootcamp (Working With LLMs): Zero to Mastery

Stop memorizing random prompts. Instead, learn how Large Language Models (LLMs) actually work and how to use them effectively. This course will take you from being a complete beginner to the forefront of the AI world.

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Course

Beginner

32 Hours ·346 Lessons Complete Python Developer in 2025: Zero to Mastery

Learn Python from scratch, get hired, and have fun along the way with the most modern, up-to-date Python course on the web.

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Course · optional for you

Intermediate

22 Hours ·210 Lessons AI Engineering: RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) for LLMs

Learn to make smarter AI systems by combining LLMs with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Learn with real-world projects like chatbots, financial analysis tools, and more using OpenAI APIs.

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Course

Intermediate

1 Hours ·13 Lessons Learn MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Learn how to work with the MCP (Model Context Protocol) to optimize connecting AI to external sources, improve model capabilities, and land AI Engineering roles.

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Course

Intermediate

7 Hours ·83 Lessons The AI Agents Bootcamp: Zero to Mastery

Learn hands-on AI agent development using CrewAI, LangGraph, MCP, OpenAI and more. Build and deploy real multi-agent systems for automation, data workflows, and intelligent apps.

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Course

Intermediate

7.5 Hours ·72 Lessons AI Engineering: Customizing LLMs for Business (Fine-Tuning LLMs with QLoRA & AWS)

Master the in-demand AI skill that businesses want: to build and deploy customized LLMs. Learn to fine-tune open-source LLMs on proprietary data and deploy your customized LLM models using AWS SageMaker and Streamlit.

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Course

Intermediate

12 Hours ·99 Lessons AI Engineering: Build, Train & Deploy Models with AWS SageMaker

Learn to build end-to-end AI applications using AWS SageMaker & Hugging Face: prepare your own datasets, train and modify your own models, then deploy and scale your AI applications into the real world.

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Course

Advanced

18.5 Hours ·194 Lessons AI Engineering: Building AI Applications (LangChain, LLM APIs + more)

Learn to build AI applications using LLM APIs and cutting edge tools including LangChain, LangSmith, and LangGraph. This is developer training for the new era of programming.

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Course · optional for you

Beginner

1 Hours ·12 Lessons Perplexity AI for Professionals

Discover how to use Perplexity AI for smarter, faster research and decision-making—no tech background required.

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Course

Intermediate

5 Hours ·80 Lessons Career Guide to Your Dream Job: Resumes, Interviews & Promotions

Learn how to take the next step in your career. Whether you’re job hunting or aiming for a promotion, this course gives you the ultimate career advantage no matter your industry or experience level.

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Action

Apply To 5 Jobs

Believe it or not, you now have enough skills to start applying to jobs and even get hired! This process usually takes a while and it's good to start even if you don't feel "ready". Apply to 5 jobs online right now and see what happens. You don't even need to "want" these jobs. The goal is to practice applying and practice going through the interview process. Once you finish applying to 5 jobs (you don't need to hear back), move on to the next step in this Career Path.

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Course

Advanced

4 Hours ·42 Lessons Ultimate AWS Bedrock Guide: Build and Scale Generative AI Apps

Learn the cutting-edge world of AWS Bedrock and gain skills to create AI apps. You'll build and deploy three AI projects using foundation models from Meta, Anthropic, Cohere, Mistral and more, all from a single API!

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Course · optional for you

Beginner

5.5 Hours ·110 Lessons Learning to Learn [Efficient Learning]

Become an efficient learner and best version of yourself. You'll learn scientifically proven strategies, techniques & skills used by the world's top performers!

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Course

Beginner

40 Hours ·401 Lessons The Complete Web Developer in 2025: Zero to Mastery

Learn to code from scratch and get hired as a Web Developer in 2025. This full-stack coding bootcamp will teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Machine Learning & more.

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Course

Intermediate

3.5 Hours ·40 Lessons Building AI Apps with the OpenAI API: GPT, DALL-E & Whisper

Learn to use the OpenAI API for chat, image generation, text-to-speech, and speech-to-text so that you can utilize AI technologies in your applications. Plus you'll build an AI application for healthy daily meal plans.

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Course

Intermediate

3.5 Hours ·38 Lessons Building AI Apps with the Gemini API

Learn to use Google's Gemini API for building AI-powered applications. Plus you'll put your skills into action by building three projects using the Gemini API.

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Course · optional for you

Intermediate

3 Hours ·26 Lessons Build a ChatBot with Nuxt, TypeScript, and the OpenAI Assistants API

Take your skills to the next level and build an AI-powered customer support ChatBot! You'll learn to utilize the OpenAI Assistants API to power a chatbot that's fine-tuned for your specific product or service.

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Action

Apply To 5 Jobs You Really Want

This time around, you have more knowledge and more practice. It's now time to take your job hunt seriously. Find 5 companies/jobs that you REALLY want to work for and make a serious effort applying to these jobs based on the tips you learned in the previous lessons. Don't take no for an answer and see if you can land an interview at one of these companies you chose. Once you have an interview lined up, move to the next section.

Course · optional for you

Beginner

1 Hours ·3 Lessons Future Proof Yourself: Goal Setting for Your Career

Learn how to set strategic, actionable goals, adapt to changing trends, and create a career roadmap that keeps you on track for success.

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Action

Take Your Next Step

Now that you have completed this path, it's time for you to decide what you want to do with your AI career. At this point you're able to develop comprehensive AI tools and applications using existing machine learning models, which is a highly desirable skill. If you want to actually create machine learning models from scratch that can be used in your applications, then start the AI & Machine Learning Engineer Career Path now!

Start AI & ML Engineer Career Path

See less career path

Still have questions?

Who is this AI Developer Career Path for?

Anyone who wants a clear step-by-step guide to learn the latest industry techniques and tools, become an AI Developer from scratch, and actually get hired. Oh ya, and you don't want to waste your money on overpriced bootcamps and degrees.

Also, let's be honest. Some of the topics can be a little dry. So, we're even going to have a bit of fun along the way. No way! Crazy right?!

This AI Developer Career Path is perfect for you if:

You're a complete beginner (of any age!) and want a full bootcamp curriculum and experience without having to pay $1,000s
You don't want to waste your valuable time. You want to learn everything needed to become an AI Developer in one place
You want to build real-world, enterprise-level projects that will push you, challenge you and make your portfolio and resume stand out
You don't want to learn and take this journey alone. You will learn alongside 100s of other students at your same level and 1,000s more that are just a few steps ahead of you

And it's definitely for you if you're sick of:

Outdated tutorials
Free courses and tutorials that don't go beyond the basics
Learning topics and concepts that are mostly irrelevant in the real-world and don't even get asked in interviews
Courses with no community or support system
Tutorial hell
Feeling like you're going in circles with no clear path or end in sight

Let's be 100% clear. You aren't going to do 100 coding challenges or 50 projects or learn topics that aren't going to get you hired or even be used in the real-world. That's a waste of your time.

The sooner you get hired, the sooner you'll be learning more than you can from any course. That's the goal of this Career Path.

Why become a AI Developer?

Everyone has their own reason(s) as to why they want to become an AI Developer / AI Engineer. But here are a few of the best reasons:

A rapidly growing field. As we're writing this, AI is being implemented into all facets of the workplace and our lives, and AI models are improving every week. The desire for companies to take advantage of this revolutionary technology is growing along with it. And AI knowledge and skills are starting to appear in the necessary or desired qualifications for Development and Programming jobs more and more every day.
High demand = High salary. The average annual salary for an AI Developer in the United States is ~$137,000 across all levels (entry-level to senior). Plus AI knowledge and skills are still relatively rare, whereas other tech roles have arguably become more saturated. You know what that means? Jobs!
No degree required. It's very possible to get hired as an AI Developer without having any college degree.
Work remotely. Many AI-related jobs are remote. Work from the comfort of your own home, a coffee shop or even while travelling the world. Some roles even allow you to work on your own schedule.
It's fun. And rewarding. You get to have a real-world impact. The work you're doing on a daily basis can have a huge impact on hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people.

How long does it take to become an AI Developer (and complete this Career Path)?

Everyone is different. So it's hard to give a specific amount of time. The two biggest variables are the number of hours per week you're dedicating to completing the steps in the Career Path and your current experience level.

Don't hold us to it but here's a rough guideline based on feedback we've received from past ZTM students on how long it takes to become an AI Developer:

40-80 hours a week = 2-3 months. Students who are able to learn basically full-time and/or already have some experience (ex: students that already have advanced Excel analysis skills).
20-40 hours a week = 4-6 months. Students who have started from scratch as complete beginners (no matter their age!) and spend a few hours per day.
0-10 hours a week = 7-12+ months. Students from all experience levels but are only able to dedicate a few hours a week.

What’s the ZTM Discord community and how can it help me?

The ZTM Discord is our exclusive online community for ZTM students, alumni, TAs and instructors.

How it helps you, short version: Increase the chances that ZTM students achieve their current goals and help them continue to grow throughout their career.

Longer version: Learning alone is hard. We've all been there. We've all tried to learn new skills and struggled. It can be frustrating, daunting, and just plain challenging, especially if you're trying to change careers.

We feel strongly that the Zero To Mastery Discord community is an essential part of the learning experience and greatly increases the chances for students to achieve their goals.

It's crazy to think that Colleges and Coding Bootcamps charge you tens of thousands of dollars to provide you with this type of experience. It doesn't have to be that way!

In fact, ~20% of ZTM students are also enrolled at a College or in-person Coding Bootcamp but feel like they just aren't getting all of the skills and support they need. But with ZTM, they do.

Within the Zero To Mastery Discord community, you can:

Connect with other Developers, Engineers, Data Scientists, Designers
Form study groups and complete ZTM Career Paths and Courses together
Ask questions and get advice from other people at your same level as well as more experienced professionals
Get feedback on projects
Meet other students around the world (and likely even someone from your hometown!)
Learn how to answer questions and help other students which will accelerate your own learning
Get help from others with questions and exercises
Work on coding challenges and real-world open-source projects with other students

It’s pretty awesome to see many ZTM alumni also active every single day, continuing to engage with the community, give back, and level up their own skills and career.

Are there any prerequisites for this Career Path?

A computer (Windows/Mac/Linux) and access to the internet. That's it! No previous experience is needed.

If you haven't already, take our tech career path quiz. We'll give you our recommendation for which path is the best fit for you.

How is a Career Path different from a course?

Career Paths are like a full College curriculum. Our Career Paths give you the exact courses, workshops, challenges, articles and actions to take to go from absolute beginner to getting hired.

Career Paths start with ensuring you know the foundations from scratch. But they go far beyond by teaching you advanced topics and non-technical skills that are essential for your career but aren't taught in Computer Science Degrees or Coding Bootcamps.

Courses are more focused. Different courses have different goals. Some courses are a great fit for experienced Developers, Engineers and Programmers who want to level-up their skills in a specific topic or framework. Other courses cover a wider range of topics teaching the foundations and fundamentals for beginners.

Can I change my Career Path?

Yes. You can change your Career Path anytime. As a member of Zero To Mastery, you have unlimited access to all ZTM courses, workshops, challenges, articles and other materials needed to complete any of the ZTM Career Paths.

Invest in a better you. For less than a coffee a day.

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With a team license, you can buy a number of spots to allocate to employees.

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Get Lifetime Access

You're serious about advancing your career and maximizing your salary

All PRO benefits included

Never worry about staying up to date with the industry again, for life. You'll get access to all ZTM PRO features and future courses for life.

Become an AI Developer

Earn on average $137,259 per year

8 Months

Your career path

What You'll Learn

Apply To 5 Jobs You Really Want

See less career path

What ZTM students are saying

Meet your instructors

Andrei Neagoie

Scott Kerr

Patrik Szepesi

Amber Israelsen

Still have questions?

Who is this AI Developer Career Path for?

Why become a AI Developer?

How long does it take to become an AI Developer (and complete this Career Path)?

What’s the ZTM Discord community and how can it help me?

Are there any prerequisites for this Career Path?

How is a Career Path different from a course?

Can I change my Career Path?

Invest in a better you. For less than a coffee a day.

Only pay once, ever