AI Coding
Essentials
In today's tech landscape, AI skills aren't optional for serious developers Professional developers who leverage AI properly can accomplish in hours what used to take days.
Get practical, hands-on experience with AI tools that will immediately impact your workflow and project capabilities.
Hi I'm JV,
I'm passionate about helping people make great software.
In my 25 years of coding and 12 years teaching development, I've never seen anything impact my profession as much as AI.
It has changed how I build, what I build, as well as how I teach and learn.
My main focus for the last two and a half years has been keeping up with AI and how it is changing my profession.
I would love to help you navigate this shift so you can stay ahead of the curve.
Harness AI's Full Potential
AI is transforming software development, creating opportunities for developers who can strategically integrate it into their workflow. The most successful developers will be those who harness AI as a collaborative tool that enhances both their process and their products.
Many programmers today use AI casually: install Copilot, use auto-complete, paste error messages for quicker debugging, but continue coding much as they always have. The real opportunity lies in the gap between this casual use and truly integrating AI as a professional multiplier.
Consider the difference: A developer manually refactoring a legacy codebase versus one using AI to analyze patterns, suggest modern architecture, and generate migration scripts while setting up efficient workflows, then supervising AI agents as they complete the bulk of the transformation work. Or a team creating basic data visualizations versus one building intelligent dashboards that automatically highlight anomalies and predict trends.
What makes this approach different is that you'll learn to transform both sides of your development practice:
- How you work (accelerating your workflow, automating tasks, maximizing productivity)
- What you build (creating intelligent applications with capabilities that weren't previously practical)
And you'll do this with a foundation in responsible AI development, learning to build systems that are transparent, unbiased, and respect user privacy throughout each stage of implementation.
Whether you're an early career developer looking to establish valuable skills from the start, a mid career professional adapting to industry changes, or simply seeking to dramatically increase your productivity, this practice focused approach will help you achieve significant gains in your development capabilities.
Starting May 12th, 2025, I'll be running a live 6-week program that systematically builds these skills, from AI powered coding foundations to advanced agent based systems, with practical implementation techniques that apply across evolving AI tools and technologies.
Here are the results you can expect in 6 weeks
Unlock These AI Capabilities:
- 1.Transform your development workflow with AI-powered coding techniques that dramatically reduce time spent on repetitive tasks
- 2.Build AI-enhanced applications that leverage large language models through abstraction libraries
- 3.Implement retrieval systems that combine your data with AI capabilities
- 4.Create multimodal experiences integrating voice, text, images and other media with AI
- 5.Design ethical guardrails for responsible AI implementation in production applications
- 6.Deploy autonomous AI agents that can perform complex tasks with minimal supervision
Evolve Your Development Practice
Whether you're already using AI coding tools or just starting to explore them, this course will take your practice to the next level.
Throughout the course, you'll transform both your development process and the products you build, with AI handling complexity while you focus on creativity and direction.
By the end, you won't just have completed AI-enhanced projects – you'll have gained the framework to multiply your development capabilities and build intelligent applications that weren't previously practical.
Week 1: AI-Powered Coding
Build a foundation for AI-enhanced development practices
- Master effective prompting techniques to get consistently useful results from AI assistants
- Integrate AI tools into your existing development environment and workflow
- Learn patterns for delegating appropriate tasks to AI while maintaining quality control
- Develop strategies for using AI to accelerate code generation, documentation, and testing
Week 2: Abstraction Libraries and APIs
Implement AI capabilities through simplified frameworks
- Explore key abstraction libraries that make LLM integration straightforward
- Build applications that leverage AI capabilities without deep ML expertise
- Understand best practices for working with AI APIs and managing costs
- Create reusable components for common AI implementation patterns
Week 3: Evaluation, Workflow & Observability
Establish robust practices for AI application development
- Implement proper testing and evaluation frameworks for AI components
- Set up monitoring systems to track AI system performance and behavior
- Create workflows for continuous improvement of AI-powered features
- Learn techniques for debugging and refining AI-generated solutions
Week 4: Retrieval Augmented Generation
Enhance AI systems with domain-specific knowledge
- Build vector databases to store and retrieve relevant information
- Implement semantic search to find contextually appropriate information
- Create context-aware applications that combine your data with AI capabilities
- Develop techniques for managing and updating knowledge bases
Week 5: Multimodal AI
Create rich experiences combining multiple media types
- Integrate text, image, audio, and other media types in AI applications
- Build voice powered agents that can phone your users
- Build image generation pipelines that you can control programmatically
- Build applications that combine multiple AI capabilities into cohesive experiences
Week 6: Agent-Based AI Systems
Design and deploy autonomous AI solutions
- Create AI agents that can plan and execute multi-step processes
- Implement tool-using capabilities that extend AI functionality
- Develop oversight mechanisms and guardrails for autonomous systems
- Build systems where multiple AI components work together to solve complex problems
The current cohort is in session – sign up to the newsletter to receive notifications when it is open again.
Meet the teaching team
I've been working with this handpicked team of Dev Academy alumni on commercial projects for over a year.
Each excels at learning, teaching, coding, and AI development – and I'm excited to now be teaching alongside them to help you bridge the gap between AI no-code tools and custom development.
Joshua Vial
JV studied computer science in the late 90s, has been programming professionally ever since. He co-founded Dev Academy in 2013, and has been consulting and teaching independently since 2023.
JV: you've already heard enough about me, I'm thrilled to introduce you to the team.
Tadhg Connolly
Tadhg graduated Dev Academy in 2021, likes having fun and believes learning is most effective when it's enjoyable.
When not exploring new technologies, they enjoy finding creative solutions to complex problems. Prior to their developer arc they studied and tutored psychology. Amateur psychoanalysis not included in base price.
JV: Unfortunately, Tadhg is better than me at chess. For now.
Jen Hurley
Jen both studied and taught at Dev Academy in 2023, and loves creating inclusive learning environments that demystify software development.
They meet learners where they are, encouraging exploration and making technology accessible through a supportive approach that transforms "I can't code" into "I just haven't coded yet."
JV: I've had to bribe the fundsorter.com team to make some of Jen's time available for teaching. They are big fans.
Got Questions?
How much time do I need?
3 - 5 hours per week. On the Essentials plan you can get by with three hours per week but you will likely leave a few things to come back to. You have lifetime access to the course materials.
For Premium plans the time requirements can be customizable to your availability.
Will this course be relevant as AI tools continue to evolve?
Absolutely. You'll learn foundational patterns and implementation techniques that apply across evolving AI tools. The skills you gain will remain relevant even as specific AI tools change.
When will the calls be?
The weekly Q&A session will be on Wednesdays 10.00am NZ time (GMT-13). The session will be recorded and include questions from discord for those who can't make it live.
Private coaching will be scheduled ad hoc based on student preferences.
Do I need to pay for any AI tools?
Not unless you want to. All of the tools covered in the course have free plans, and you will be able to complete the course without spending money on tools.
The free plans have a lot of limitations and you won't be able to build as much (or as quickly) as if you choose to spend money.
One goal of the course is to give you a good understanding of the different tools so you can get the most bang for your buck if you decide to spend.
Is there a guarantee?
Yes, I offer a 14-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not completely satisfied with the course content after two weeks, I'll provide a full refund.
