108-week apprenticeship · 10–15 hrs/week

From tensor to tenant -
become the AI engineer production teams actually need.

A production-oriented learning path that turns you into an AI / software engineer who can build, evaluate, deploy, and operate ML and LLM systems - and pass the interviews that get you hired to do it.

Tensor-to-Tenant course cover
The arc

One progression, six stages

Every phase of the course pushes you one step along the pipeline - from the math inside a tensor, all the way to operating a multi-tenant AI platform where real users, real budgets and real SLAs live.

01 · tensor linear algebra, calculus, probability, information theory - the mathematics under intelligence
02 · vector embeddings, retrieval, search and the geometry of meaning
03 · model fine-tuning, alignment, agents, RAG and LLM systems
04 · serving vLLM, quantization, scheduling, disaggregation and inference at scale
05 · platform routing, quotas, idempotency, cost attribution, observability
06 · tenant multi-tenant production AI - enterprise-safe, auditable, profitable
108
instructional weeks
3
stackable programs
10
phases + milestone gates
100
math modules
30
engineering tasks
548
Darbar problem slots
Why this course exists

Most AI tutorials teach you to call an API. This one builds the person who ships the platform.

The market is flooded with model wrappers and cookie-cutter bootcamps. This course is the opposite: a production-oriented apprenticeship that grounds every abstraction in mathematics, then pushes you through the systems that make ML and LLM products actually work in the real world - and through the interviews that prove it.

Production orientation
Each week ships a useful artifact: code, a benchmark, a design, or a retrospective.
Evidence-based completion
Progress is proven by artifacts, not attendance. Portfolios at Weeks 30, 69 and 108.
Mathematics first
100 modules across 10 tracks build the reasoning beneath ML, inference and distributed systems.
Interview mastery
A continuous 176-item roadmap spanning system design, coding and behavioral preparation.
Staff-level capstones
Trace forensics with Mo's algorithm, tree forensics with DSU, and an enterprise AI gateway.
Tenant-aware engineering
Concurrency, isolation and fairness are part of the first primitives, not a demo-day afterthought.
Course structure

Three stackable programs

Stop at any checkpoint with a publishable release, or continue to the full 108 weeks.

W1–30Foundations

Math, numerical routines, and experimentation toolkit

release · Week 30
W31–69Engineering + Systems

Tested primitives, system designs, MLOps tools, and postmortem

release · Week 69
W70–108LLM Platform

LLM/RAG work, inference benchmark, platform layer, and capstone

release · Week 108
Phases

Ten phases across the 108 weeks

Phase 1 Weeks 1–6

Orientation, tooling, and diagnostics

6 core deliverables
Phase 2 Weeks 7–18

Mathematical foundations I: linear algebra & numerical methods

12 core deliverables
Phase 3 Weeks 19–30

Mathematical foundations II: calculus, autodiff, probability, statistics

12 core deliverables
Phase 4 Weeks 31–45

Engineering micro-projects and applied ML primitives

15 core deliverables
Phase 5 Weeks 46–57

System design and distributed systems fundamentals

12 core deliverables
Phase 6 Weeks 58–69

ML lifecycle, experimentation, and MLOps

12 core deliverables
Phase 7 Weeks 70–81

LLM training, RAG, agents, and evaluation

12 core deliverables
Phase 8 Weeks 82–93

LLM inference and performance engineering

12 core deliverables
Phase 9 Weeks 94–102

Production AI platform engineering

9 core deliverables
Phase 10 Weeks 103–108

Capstone, portfolio, and interview readiness

6 core deliverables

See the full 108-week table →

Parallel tracks

Three lanes run alongside the weekly spine

FridayAlgorithmic Forge

A weekly algorithmic drill with Core, Supporting, Archive and Boss-fight tiers, mapped across all 108 weeks. Friday is for fluency.

CanonicalSystem Design Track

Weeks 46–57: foundations, distributed patterns, technology labs, case studies, and OOD/LLD - the canonical design lane of the course.

ParallelLeetcode Darbar

A timed problem-solving lane with a 548-slot tracker and optional Standard/Auror completion paths. 3–5 problems per week, timer on.

GenAI agents specialisation

From no-code prototypes to autonomous UI agents

An 18-module agents track inside the course: LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, Model Context Protocol, agentic design patterns, DSPy, Kùzu graph RAG - capped by Project Manus, an agent that autonomously operates a real browser and terminal.

18 modulesGenAI Agents track

Foundations → prompting → RAG → agents from scratch → MCP → three orchestration frameworks → agentic patterns → advanced RAG → DSPy → Kùzu. Every framework grounded in evidence-first, tenant-aware engineering.

The mandala progression

You don't take notes - you become someone else

Sixteen mandalas turn the course into an identity ladder: each 48-day cycle ends with a capability you can prove.

The sixteen mandalas of the identity ladder
Mandala 1 · Weeks 1–7

Build a reliable learning system

Disciplined learner

They replace vague plans to study AI with a working weekly process.

Mandala 2 · Weeks 7–14

Learn the geometry beneath intelligence

Linear-algebra thinker

Embeddings, attention and matrix models become geometric objects. The learner can reason about them.

Mandala 3 · Weeks 14–21

Numerical computation and differentiation

Numerical programmer

They learn to ask whether an algorithm is mathematically correct and numerically sane.

Mandala 4 · Weeks 21–28

Probability, autodiff and statistical inference

Statistical reasoner

They can explain why training and evaluation procedures work instead of treating them as imports.

Mandala 5 · Weeks 28–35

Experimentation meets retrieval

Retrieval and experimentation builder

They can now build the primitives behind search, experimentation and traffic control.

Mandala 6 · Weeks 35–42

Production reliability and measurable AI

Reliability-minded engineer

They stop thinking only about model output and start thinking about trust, failure, observability and operational behavior.

Mandala 7 · Weeks 42–48

Distributed primitives and design reasoning

Distributed-systems implementer

They can move from implementing one process to reasoning about many machines.

Mandala 8 · Weeks 49–55

Classic distributed systems

System designer

They stop naming technologies and start defending architecture.

Mandala 9 · Weeks 55–62

From system design to ML product science

ML systems practitioner

A production ML system begins with a decision and a dataset, rather than model training alone.

Mandala 10 · Weeks 62–69

Build a mature experimentation platform

Experimentation engineer

They can tell when a metric moved and when the evidence supports changing the product.

Mandala 11 · Weeks 69–76

Train, align and retrieve with LLMs

LLM training and retrieval engineer

They understand the whole upstream and retrieval lifecycle rather than treating the LLM as a remote magic endpoint.

Mandala 12 · Weeks 76–83

RAG, agents and inference foundations

RAG and agent engineer

They can build an agent and explain where its latency, errors, context and cost come from.

Mandala 13 · Weeks 83–90

Become an inference systems engineer

Inference performance engineer

They can diagnose inference rather than simply complain that it is slow.

Mandala 14 · Weeks 90–96

Advanced serving and reliable routing

Serving and routing engineer

They can optimize a model and a multi-provider inference service.

Mandala 15 · Weeks 97–103

Build the enterprise AI platform

Multi-tenant AI platform engineer

This is where “tensor” finally becomes “tenant.”

Mandala 16 · graduation · Weeks 103–108

Graduation - portfolio, capstone and interview readiness

Portfolio-backed Staff AI Systems candidate

They no longer need to tell someone they “know AI systems.” They can provide the repository, traces, benchmarks, design documents and failure tests.

Full mandala breakdown →

Milestone gates

Progress is gated, not assumed

Ten blocking checkpoints. A failed gate pauses new content until its remediation plan is complete and the missing evidence is submitted.

Gate 1Week 6

Course repo · weekly tracker · Dockerized service · diagnostic report

Gate 2Week 18

Explain eigenvalues, SVD, norms, condition numbers; implement basic numerical routines

Gate 3Week 30

Derive basic gradients; explain MLE/MAP; implement hypothesis tests + bootstrap CIs; explain power/MDE

Gate 4Week 45

Completed all engineering primitives (retrieval, rate limiting, caching, chunking, PII, metrics, resilience, sketches, routing)

Gate 5Week 57

Completed system design case studies with requirements, API, data model, scaling, trade-offs, failure modes

Gate 6Week 69

A/B analysis tool, bootstrap tool, SRM detector, feature flag engine, experiment assignment, monitoring plan

Gate 7Week 81

RAG retrieval pipeline, retrieval evaluation report, prompt system, memory system, agent prototype

Gate 8Week 93

Deployed vLLM or SGLang, benchmark methodology, observability dashboard, quantization report, speculative decoding report, inference cost model

Gate 9Week 102

Working production AI platform: router, quotas, tracing, logging, idempotency, work queue, model registry, cost attribution, safety filters

Gate 10Week 108

Completed capstone, published portfolio, passed mock interviews, behavioral stories, 30-day job-search plan

Capstones

Three staff-level finale paths

RequiredCapstone 1

Multi-Tenant LLM Trace Forensics with Mo's algorithm - exact batch queries over immutable trace segments.

Boss fightCapstone 2

Agent Execution Forensics with Euler Tour + DSU on Tree - subtree analytics over 50k-node agent trees.

GatewayCapstone 3

An OpenRouter-inspired enterprise multi-model AI gateway: routing, tenancy, accounting and reliability.

Capstone specifications →

Ready to run the arc?

To start, use the course's cookiecutter: one command scaffolds a complete learner repository with all 108 weekly journals stamped with your start date, the phase folders, engineering primitives, the Darbar tracker, milestone gates, portfolio checklists, and helper scripts.

cookiecutter gh:sethuiyer/tensor-to-tenant