How I'd Learn GenAI in 2026 (if I could start over)

Dave Ebbelaar • October 29, 2025

Dave Ebbelaar

@daveebbelaar

About

Hi, I'm Dave, an AI engineer with over a decade of experience in artificial intelligence. At Datalumina, I lead the AI projects, where we're always pushing the boundaries of what's possible while still building reliable applications. I'm not going to impress you with theory, but teach you (without hype) how to build real AI systems, using lasting engineering principles. Along the way: - 10M+ views across YouTube, LinkedIn, and courses - Helped 1M+ developers get started with AI - Building and scaling a 7-figure AI company - Delivered 50+ custom B2B AI solutions - Consulted for TimescaleDB, ClickUp, and n8n - Helped 500+ developers launch freelance careers - BSc + MSc in Artificial Intelligence (VU Amsterdam) I post about AI engineering, building real systems, and what it takes to go independent as a developer. If you want to build AI that actually works, or build a freelance career around it, follow along 👊🏻

Latest Posts

PT4M

Build a Complete End-to-End GenAI Project in 3 Hours

Dave Ebbelaar4 months ago

42306

PT4M

How to Combine RAG with Real-Time Web Search (Single Page, Search, Allowed Domains)

Dave Ebbelaar5 months ago

7316

PT4M

Python for AI - Full Beginner Course

Dave Ebbelaar5 months ago

390761

PT4M

Sora 2 API is Here - What You Need to Know

Dave Ebbelaar6 months ago

18774

Video Description

Want to shortcut this roadmap? Go here: https://go.datalumina.com/ecPOtZu Want to start freelancing? Let me help: https://go.datalumina.com/j2yOqrk 🔗 Link to Roadmap https://github.com/daveebbelaar/ai-cookbook/blob/main/roadmaps/ai-engineer-2026.md 💼 Need help with a project? Work with me: https://go.datalumina.com/TMGbUvO ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Roadmap to Becoming an AI Engineer 01:37 Understanding the AI Engineer Role 04:29 Step 1: AI Foundations 08:17 Step 2: AI System Design 10:18 Step 3: AI Architecture 10:21 Step 4: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) 11:57 Step 5: Monitoring and Evaluation 15:17 Step 6: Deployment Strategies 17:57 Final Thoughts and Next Steps 📌 Description Learn the exact tech stack and roadmap to become a production-ready AI Engineer in 2026. I’ll walk you through the essential tools, from Python, FastAPI, Docker, PostgreSQL, and Langfuse to working with OpenAI and real LLM APIs, so you can build and deploy end-to-end AI systems. 👋🏻 About Me Hi! I'm Dave, AI Engineer and founder of Datalumina®. On this channel, I share practical tutorials that teach developers how to build production-ready AI systems that actually work in the real world. Beyond these tutorials, I also help people start successful freelancing careers. Check out the links above to learn more!