AIQoachGet hired as an Applied AI Engineer.
The ability to build production-ready AI agents is the highest-demand, least-supplied skill in software right now. We offer a free six-week coaching & placement programme for Python engineers looking to move into applied AI.
- A new cohort starts on the first Sunday of every month
- No course fee. A £50 deposit goes towards your exam fee
Programme details
One Foundation bootcamp to start, then a two-hour coaching clinic every Sunday for five more weeks, six in all.
- Week 1
Foundation bootcamp
One live session that gets the whole cohort to the same starting point. We cover how a production agent harness is put together (the loop, tools, state, skills and multi-agent working), the Claude API patterns underneath it, the basics of LangGraph and how the certification works, and you build your first AI agent.
- Every Sunday, Weeks 2 to 6
Coaching clinics
Two hours, live. The first part is yours: bring whatever was unclear from the week and we work through it together. The rest is one new topic that takes the cohort further. Each week also comes with a build brief, posted on Monday, so every clinic starts from something you have tried.
- Week 2
System prompts, context and tools
Writing system prompts that hold up in production, and managing what the model sees: skills loaded on demand, retrieval from your own systems, and compaction so long runs stay inside the context window. Designing tools an agent can call safely, building and using MCP servers, and keeping access scoped to what each task needs.
- Week 3
State, memory and multi-agent working
Checkpointing so a run can resume after a failure, short-term and long-term memory, and deciding what an agent should remember. Supervisors, subagents and handoffs, with human approval at the steps that matter so people stay in control of consequential actions.
- Week 4
Evals, security and reliability
Evals inside the loop and test suites around it, using self-review, tests and judge models. Guarding against prompt injection, handling retries and errors, and keeping cost and latency in check. You finish with a complete agent ready to deploy.
- Week 5
Running it on AgentCore
Deploy your agent on AgentCore Runtime, which runs it serverlessly with no servers to manage. Gateway turns your APIs into MCP tools, and Identity controls who the agent acts as.
- Week 6
Memory, observability and production readiness
Your checkpointer and store become AgentCore Memory. Trace every step and handoff with Observability, add the permissioning and guardrails a live system needs, and run your evals against the deployed agent.
- Every week
The Build Room
Your cohort's private channel, open between Sundays. Ask questions, share what you are building, get feedback and pair with the others. Clinic notes and recordings are shared here, so a missed Sunday is easy to catch up on.
- Any time after Week 3
Certification
Take it whenever you feel ready. Revise against the exam's scenario-based format, then sit Claude Certified Developer – Foundations (CCDV-F), Anthropic's own credential for engineers building production applications on Claude. We handle registration as a Claude Partner Network member; the exam itself is set and issued directly by Anthropic.
- After certification
Placement
Once you hold the credential we put you forward as an Applied AI Engineer for roles that match your strengths, then stay on for ninety days of technical check-ins once you start.
Guided by the people who hire
Our Qoaching board is made up of technology and talent leaders from enterprises building with AI. They tell us the skills their teams need, which shapes what we teach and the briefs you build, and they know what a strong Applied AI Engineer looks like when it comes to hiring.
- PR
Priya Raman
Chief AI Officer
Northbridge Insurance
- DO
Daniel Okafor
VP Engineering
Calder Payments
- SL
Sophie Lindqvist
Head of Applied AI
Fenwick Retail Group
- MH
Marcus Hale
Director of Platform Engineering
Harbourline Bank
- AM
Anjali Mehta
Chief Technology Officer
Meridian Health Systems
- TE
Tom Eastwood
Head of Talent, Technology
Ashgrove Energy
Questions engineers ask us
What is an Applied AI Engineer?
An engineer who can take an AI agent from brief to production inside a real enterprise, grounded in the business problem and not just the model. That's what the programme trains, certifies and places you as.
What does it cost?
Coaching is free. You pay a £50 deposit when you enrol, which goes towards your Claude Certified Developer exam fee ($125). You pay the remainder of the exam fee when we book the exam for you. The enterprise that hires you pays us for the placement.
Who is this for?
Python engineers already writing and shipping production software, who want to specialise in applied AI and can commit several hours a week.
What are the prerequisites?
Professional experience as a Python engineer, with working fluency in APIs, Git and the command line. No prior AI or machine-learning experience is needed: the Foundation bootcamp covers how a production agent is put together, and the Sunday clinics take it from there. You will need an AWS account for the deployment weeks, and we guide you through setting up your Claude API access and AWS account before you need them.
What will I actually build?
You'll build agents with LangGraph, then deploy them on AWS Bedrock AgentCore, working up from single tool calls to multi-step agents running as a live, observable service.
When does it start?
A new cohort starts on the first Sunday of every month.
How much time does it take?
Part-time, in a cohort: a Foundation bootcamp, then a two-hour coaching clinic every Sunday for five more weeks, six in all, plus time on the weekly build brief. It fits alongside a job or a degree, and most people manage it on six to eight hours a week.
What happens between Sundays?
You work on the weekly build brief, posted on Monday, and use the Build Room, your cohort's private channel, to ask questions, share progress and pair with others. The next clinic starts from what you tried.
What if I miss a clinic?
Clinic notes and recordings are shared in the Build Room, so you can catch up and bring your questions to the next Sunday.
Where is this delivered, and where are placements?
Coaching is remote. Placements are UK first, with remote and European roles by arrangement.
What's involved in the certification?
Claude Certified Developer – Foundations (CCDV-F): 53 scenario-based questions, 120 minutes, a pass mark of 720 out of 1,000. It's proctored by Anthropic's certification partner and verified through a Credly badge. You can sit it any time after Week 3, whenever you feel ready, and we help you prepare.
Is it the only certification on offer?
Yes, for now. We run one programme, on one track, because it's where most enterprise agent work is happening and the credential is external and verifiable. Tracks for other providers are coming.
Chat with us on LinkedIn
Ask us anything about the programme, the certification or the roles our graduates move into. A new cohort starts on the first Sunday of every month.