Kaggle Learn Alternative:
From Competitions to Career Success.
Kaggle excels at competitions but falls short on career preparation.
Get production skills and job coaching that actually land AI roles.
Competition Skills Do Not Equal Job Skills.
Kaggle Learn courses cover basics but stop at notebook experiments. Production AI engineering requires deployment, APIs, and system design skills they never teach.
Competition experience looks good but does not translate to job interviews. Hiring managers want production systems, not leaderboard placements.
No career guidance whatsoever. You can win medals but still have no idea how to write an AI resume, prepare for interviews, or negotiate offers.
Career-Focused AI Engineering with Real Guidance.
The World-Class AI Engineer Cohort
Instead of chasing Kaggle medals that do not translate to jobs, invest in production-ready skills and direct career coaching. Learn what AI teams actually need, build portfolio projects that impress hiring managers, and get support through your entire job search.
Learn Production AI Patterns
Move beyond notebooks to deployable systems
Build Job-Ready Portfolio Projects
Create work that hiring managers recognize
Get Cohort Career Support
Resume, interview prep, and job search support
Meet Your Mentor
My aim has been the same for years: become a world-class AI engineer. Every career move I've made has been measured against that.
I started as a software tester on a $500/month internship in the Netherlands. Taught myself to code, learned to ship real systems, and worked my way to Senior Engineer at GitHub.
Then I left GitHub. I joined an AI research lab as Member of Technical Staff, where I currently build products for secure AI monitoring.
The cohort draws directly from my real experience so you can make progress fast.
I run this special cohort with only a few people because hands-on work with me is what it takes to bring you to become a world-class AI engineer.
Real Results
Vittor
AI Engineer
Built and deployed his portfolio piece, then landed the AI role
"The coaching played a huge part in my success. I focused on AI fundamentals, the certification path, and soft skills like professional writing. Having access to expert guidance gave me confidence during interviews and helped me feel I was on the right path.
I built my own platform (simple but functional) and deployed it on AWS. I used it in my portfolio and showcased it during interviews. The way complex topics were explained, especially the restaurant analogy for AI systems, really stuck with me. Focusing on doing the basics well was absolutely essential."
What You Will Get
8 Weekly Tuesday Sessions
3 hours each for 24 live hours total.
Project Scoping at Kickoff
We set the scope of what you'll ship and the milestones to get there before the live sessions start.
Code Reviews
Reviews of your code from Zen during the cohort.
Lifetime Demo Access
Every architecture demo is recorded and yours to keep.
Demo Day
You present what you built and get feedback from Zen, with a recording you can use in your portfolio.
12 Months Community Access
Included with the cohort.
Medals Expire. Production Skills Get You Hired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Kaggle Learn not enough for AI engineering careers?
Kaggle Learn provides solid introductions to Python, machine learning basics, and data science fundamentals. But AI engineering roles in 2026 require production deployment, LLM integration, RAG pipelines, agent frameworks, and API development. Kaggle Learn stops at notebook-based experiments and never covers how to build systems that run in production. You also get zero career support, interview preparation, or job search guidance.
Do Kaggle competitions help with AI job applications?
Kaggle medals can demonstrate technical ability but have limited job search value. Competitions optimize for leaderboard metrics on clean datasets, while production AI requires messy data, system reliability, cost optimization, and user experience considerations. Many hiring managers view Kaggle experience as a starting point, not a qualification. Portfolio projects showing deployed systems and production patterns carry more weight in interviews.
How much time will this take?
You'll spend 3 hours every Tuesday in the live session and roughly 3 hours of async work in between, for 8 weeks. The Tuesday session time is fixed.
I've signed up for cohorts before and dropped out. How is this different?
It probably isn't, and you should hold the money. Most cohort dropouts are people who couldn't articulate what they were shipping when they signed up. That's why the consult exists, and why I turn down most applications. If we get on the call and you can't tell me what you'll have shipped at the end of week 8, I'll point you to the AI Native Engineer community until you can.
I'm not pivoting careers. I want to build a product. Does this still work?
Yes, the cohort works for people shipping their first serious AI system whether the goal is to land a senior role or to launch a product. The shipped system serves both equally well.
Do I need prior AI experience?
You need to be able to code in Python or TypeScript. Complete beginners can follow the classroom they get access to before the cohort sessions to come in well-prepared.
What does it cost?
It's a four-figure investment that we discuss during the 30-minute consult, alongside whether the cohort is the right fit for your project.
Can I do this while working full-time?
Yes, most attendees do. The live session is one Tuesday a week and the async work fits around your existing schedule, as long as you can carve out roughly 6 hours a week.
I accept those who have the highest chance of success.
In the 30-minute call we discuss your goals and whether you are ready for the program.