LLM Engineering Roadmap 2026 - 8-Week Practical Guide to Building with Large Language Models

Nov 2, 2026

Uploaded by Finn

Practical 8-week roadmap for working professionals and students to build real projects with large language models. Provides a 1-hour-per-day schedule, starting from prerequisites and API setup, then progressing through prompt engineering, structured outputs, first AI agents, tool use and workflows, RAG, multi-modal vision, and multi-provider evaluation and security. Each week ends with a concrete build and includes portfolio guidance plus a capstone to ship a complete product.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

How to Use This Roadmap

API Setup—Do This Before Week 1

Roadmap Overview

Week 0 Prerequisites

Week 1 Understand LLMs

Week 2 Prompt Engineering & Structured Outputs

Week 3 AI Agents—Concepts & First Agent

Week 4 Tool Use, Function Calling & Workflows

Week 5 RAG—Retrieval Augmented Generation

Week 6 Multi-Modal—Vision & Beyond Text

Week 7 Multi-Provider, Evaluation & Security

Week 8 Ship It—Full Product (Capstone)

Bonus Build Your Own LLM + Courses

Week 1 Project: "Explain Like I'm 5" Bot

PRANEETH KALLURI presents LLM Engineering Roadmap 2026 8-Week Practical Guide to Building with Large Language Models PRANEETH KALLURI Instagram: @praneeth_kalluri | @praneethkalluri | LinkedIn Next.js • Vercel AI SDK v6 • GPT-5 Family • Multi-Provider For working professionals & students | 1 hour/day | All free resources 2 1 3 4 5 8 7 6 How to Use This Roadmap • 1 hour/day is enough. Each week tells you exactly how to split your time across watching, reading, and building. • Build every project. Tutorials teach theory. Projects teach skills. Every week ends with a real project for this reason. • One API key is enough. Get OpenAI, set $5-10/month budget, use gpt-5-mini for everything unless specified. • Watch first, then build. Videos build understanding. Docs are reference while coding. • Push everything to GitHub. 8 weeks = 8 projects = a portfolio that proves your skills. • Share your progress. Post on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. Teaching accelerates learning. API Setup—Do This Before Week 1 • Get an OpenAI API key → [https://platform.openai.com/api-keys](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys) • Set budget limit ($5-10/month) → [https://platform.openai.com/settings/organization/l](https://platform.openai.com/settings/organization/l)imits • Default model: gpt-5-mini—cheapest, fastest, great for learning • Understand model tiers → OpenAI Models Page GPT-5 Model Tiers (March 2026) | Model | Best For | Speed | Cost | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | gpt-5-mini | Most tasks, learning, prototyping | Fastest | Cheapest | | gpt-5 | Complex reasoning, vision, agents | Medium | Medium | | gpt-5.4 | Flagship—hardest tasks, agentic | Slower | Premium | GPT-5 has built-in reasoning via reasoning.effort (none/low/medium/high) . Adjust effort instead of switching models. Instagram: @praneeth_kalluri | YouTube: @praneethkalluri | LinkedIn: /in/praneethkalluri Roadmap Overview Week 0 Prerequisites | Week 1 | Understand LLMs | | --- | --- | | Week 2 | Prompt Engineering & Structured Outputs | | Week 3 | AI Agents—Concepts & First Agent | | Week 4 | Tool Use, Function Calling & Workflows | | Week 5 | RAG—Retrieval Augmented Generation | | Week 6 | Multi-Modal—Vision & Beyond Text | | Week 7 | Multi-Provider, Evaluation & Security | | Week 8 | Ship It—Full Product (Capstone) | Bonus Build Your Own LLM + Courses WEEK 0 Prerequisites Make sure you're comfortable with these before starting. Working developers can skip to Week 1. • JavaScript / TypeScript basics • React fundamentals • Git & GitHub • Terminal / CLI basics • REST APIs & [HTTP](HTTP) • Next.js basics (Vercel AI SDK v6 runs on Next.js) | WEEK 1
Understand LLMs
Pace: Days 1-3: Watch videos | Days 4-5: Read docs + set up | Days 6-7: Build project |
Beginner Friendly | | --- | --- | | By the end of this week, you will:
✓ Explain how LLMs work (tokens, context windows, training) to a non-technical person
✓ Set up a Next.js project with Vercel AI SDK v6 and connect to OpenAI
✓ Build a working streaming chatbot from scratch
✓ Understand the difference between GPT-5 model tiers
Watch
• Andrej Karpathy—Intro to Large Language Models (1hr) → [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjkBMFhNj_g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjkBMFhNj_g)
• Andrej Karpathy—Software in the Era of AI → [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCEmiRjPEtQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCEmiRjPEtQ)
• 3Blue1Brown—Neural Networks + LLM Series → [https://www.3blue1brown.com/topics/neural-networks](https://www.3blue1brown.com/topics/neural-networks)
Read / Study
• Vercel AI SDK v6—Introduction → [https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/introduction](https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/introduction)
• Vercel AI SDK v6—Next.js App Router → [https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/getting-started/nextjs-app-router](https://ai-sdk.dev/docs/getting-started/nextjs-app-router)
• OpenAI Models (GPT-5 family) → [https://developers.openai.com/api/docs

FAQs

How much time is recommended each day to follow the roadmap?

The roadmap recommends 1 hour per day. Each week specifies how to split time across watching, reading, and building.

Which model is suggested as the default for most tasks?

Use gpt-5-mini as the default model for learning and most tasks unless a different model is specified.

What is the main project goal of Week 1?

Build an “Explain Like I'm 5” chatbot that lets users select a GPT-5 model tier and adjust response complexity, then streams the output in real time.

Nov 2, 2026

Uploaded by Finn