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AI foundations for engineers
From zero code to a working AI assistant: Python on engineering data, how large language models actually work, prompting for engineering documents, and AI agents and workflow automation with n8n.
One course at a time. The next unlocks when you are halfway through this one.
FreeStep 1AI and machine learningBeginnerPython for AI and Engineering Data
Python from zero, taught on the data an engineer actually has: tag lists, 4–20 mA readings, meter logs and motor currents. Variables to Pandas time series in twelve modules, all in a free Google Colab notebook, ending with a real year of plant energy data cleaned and reported.
- Run Python in Google Colab and read an error message without panic
- Convert 4–20 mA readings, scale signals and check NAMUR limits in code
- Turn a vendor I/O list into a clean JSON tag map
FreeStep 2AI and machine learningBeginnerGenerative AI and LLM Foundations
What a language model is actually doing when it answers, why it is confidently wrong sometimes, how to call one from Python on a free route, how to run one privately on your own laptop, and how to test one before you trust it with a datasheet. The concept course under the whole AI track.
- Explain in plain words what an LLM does when it answers, and why it hallucinates
- Choose a model for a job: context length, JSON output, local or hosted, licence
- Write a prompt with role, task, context, format and a NOT FOUND rule
FreeStep 3AI and machine learningBeginnerPrompt Engineering for Engineers
A course for engineers on writing AI prompts with checkable output and testing them on a golden set. Free to learn; the certificate is optional and paid.
- Write a five-part prompt with a refusal rule that turns invention into a visible blank
- Fix output format with few-shot examples and get JSON with a schema at temperature 0
- Make calculations checkable with chain of thought, and run the arithmetic as code
FreeStep 4AI and machine learningBeginnerAI Agents and Workflow Automation with n8n
No-code automation with a language model in the loop, for the jobs an engineering office does by hand: triage maintenance tickets, send the 07:00 plant report, log a phone form into a register, watch a mailbox. n8n runs free on a laptop; the AI node points at a free model or a local Ollama. Every write goes through a human approval step.
- Run n8n free on your own laptop and build a form-to-sheet-to-alert workflow
- Read and shape data with expressions, Set, Split Out, Aggregate and Merge
- Make a workflow safe to run unattended: retries, error workflow, idempotent writes
How the path works
Join the path and its first course is added to your account straight away; the next one is added when you are halfway through, so you never face a pile of unstarted courses. Each has its own progress, notes and final. Take them in the order shown: each assumes the one before. Each course has one assessment: a final of 15 questions drawn from every module, pass mark 60%, with 3 attempts and then a 24 hour wait, so the assessment checks that you followed the lessons rather than testing exam nerves.
Questions
- Is the AI foundations for engineers free?
- Yes. Every course in the path is free in full: lessons, notes, practice tasks and assessments. Joining the path adds all of them to your account in one step. The only paid item is the optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion for each course.
- In what order should I take the courses?
- In the order listed: each course assumes the one before it. Every course keeps its own progress, final and certificate, so you can also take one on its own.
- Do I get one certificate for the whole path?
- Certificates are per course, issued when you pass that course's final assessment and bought only if you want them. Finishing every course in a path gives you one certificate per course.