LLM Engineering - Master AI and LLMs

Your 8 week journey to proficiency starts today

If you're looking at this in Cursor, please right click on the filename in the Explorer on the left, and select "Open preview", to view the formatted version.

I'm so happy you're joining me on this path. We'll be building immensely satisfying projects in the coming weeks. Some will be easy, some will be challenging, many will ASTOUND you! The projects build on each other so you develop deeper and deeper expertise each week. One thing's for sure: you're going to have a lot of fun along the way.

Any questions, please ask me on Udemy or at [email protected]. More details at the top of the course resources here.

Answers to the most common questions

My Cursor looks different to yours (new splash screen)
Can I use Gemini or free models instead of OpenAI Yes!
Where are the course resources
How does this course fit in with your others?
Can I take this course with no programming background?
What job can I get after taking this course?

Before you begin

I'm here to help you be most successful with your learning. If you hit any snafus, or if you have any ideas on how I can improve the course, please do reach out in the platform or by emailing me direct ([email protected]). It's always great to connect with people on LinkedIn to build up the community - you'll find me here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddonner/

And I'm starting to build a YouTube channel with extra content - please check it out here.
And this is new to me, but I'm also trying out X/Twitter at @edwarddonner - if you're on X, please show me how it's done 😂

Resources to accompany the course, including the slides and useful links, are here:
https://edwarddonner.com/2024/11/13/llm-engineering-resources/

My digital twin that can answer common FAQ (and get me involved!) is here:
https://edwarddonner.com/avatar/

Instant Gratification instructions for Week 1, Day 1 - with Llama 3.2 not Llama 3.3

Important note: see my warning about Llama3.3 below - it's too large for home computers! Stick with llama3.2 - several students have missed this warning...

We will start the course by installing Ollama so you can see results immediately!

1. Download and install Ollama from https://ollama.com noting that on a PC you might need to have administrator permissions for the install to work properly. On a Mac, the current release of Ollama requires MacOS 14.0 or later; for older Macs please check the Ollama releases page for a version compatible with your Mac.
2. On a PC, start a Command prompt / Powershell (Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter). On a Mac, start a Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal).
3. Run ollama run llama3.2 or for smaller machines try ollama run llama3.2:1b - please note steer clear of Meta's latest model llama3.3 because at 70B parameters that's way too large for most home computers!
4. If this doesn't work: you may need to run ollama serve in another Powershell (Windows) or Terminal (Mac), and try step 3 again. On a PC, you may need to be running in an Admin instance of Powershell.
5. And if that doesn't work on your box, I've set up this on the cloud. This is on Google Colab, which will need you to have a Google account to sign in, but is free: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1-_f5XZPsChvfU1sJ0QqCePtIuc55LSdu?usp=sharing

Any problems, please contact me!

Before the Setup instructions - a special note

Early on in the course (on Day 2), I give a demo of a very cool, popular product called Claude Code. It's an AI coding tool, similar to Cursor that we use on the course. I'm only showing this as an example of Agentic AI in action; it's not a tool that's covered explicitly on this course, particularly as we're in Cursor. But if you want to use Claude Code yourself, the Quick Start guide from Anthropic is here.

OK - now on to Setup instructions

After we do the Ollama quick project, and after I introduce myself and the course, we get to work with the full environment setup.

Hopefully I've done a decent job of making these guides bulletproof - but please contact me right away if you hit roadblocks:

Setup instructions: Setup Instructions All Platforms

An important point on API costs (which are optional! No need to spend if you don't wish)

During the course, I'll suggest you try out the leading models at the forefront of progress, known as the Frontier models. I'll also suggest you run open-source models using Google Colab. These services have some charges, but I'll keep cost minimal - like, a few cents at a time. And I'll provide alternatives if you'd prefer not to use them.

Please do monitor your API usage to ensure you're comfortable with spend; I've included links below. There's no need to spend anything more than a couple of dollars for the entire course. Some AI providers such as OpenAI require a minimum credit like $5 or local equivalent; we should only spend a fraction of it, and you'll have plenty of opportunity to put it to good use in your own projects. During Week 7 you have an option to spend a bit more if you're enjoying the process - I spend about $10 myself and the results make me very happy indeed! But it's not necessary in the least; the important part is that you focus on learning.

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