Mastering Prompting Concepts: 10 Best Prompt Engineering Courses to Make the Best of LLMs
For many of us tech-loving enthusiasts, our first brush with prompting was all about having awkward interactions with early-era intelligent chatbots like Eviebot. ?
But just over the past decade, we’ve been suddenly plunged into a world of large language models (LLMs) and conversational AI tools that are not pre-configured with responses—but produce output based on the quality of our prompts.
For instance, we have LLMs like ChatGPT that, with correctly engineered prompts, not only support intelligent conversations but also help with problem-solving in both business and personal life.
So, yes—to help AI-powered systems unlock their true potential, you need a thorough understanding of prompt engineering (or prompting). Feeding the right prompts into LLMs can narrow down issues with AI interactions, enhancing the context and quality of the responses. In this guide, we’ll help you:
- Master prompt engineering evolution and role-specific concepts
- Explore the 10 best prompt engineering courses to learn in-demand skills
- Access free resources and hacks for knowledge generation prompting
Mastering Prompting Concepts: 10 Best Prompt Engineering Courses to Make the Best of LLMs
- What Is Prompt Engineering?
- Essential Role of a Prompt Engineer [And How Courses Help]
- 10 Popular Prompt Engineering Courses for Budding Prompt Engineers [Free & Paid Courses]
- 1. Coursera: Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT
- 2. DeepLearning.AI & OpenAI: ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers
- 3. LearnPrompting.org: Introductory Course on Prompt Engineering
- 4. Cameron R. Wolfe: Advanced Prompt Engineering
- 5. Udemy: The Zero To Hundred Masterclass
- 6. James Bachini: Advanced MidJourney Prompt Engineering
- 7. IBM: Introduction to Prompt Engineering
- 8. Udemy: The Complete Prompt Engineering for AI Bootcamp (2024)
- 9. Elvis Saravia: Prompt Engineering Guide
- 10. Maximilian Vogel: Free Prompt Engineering Course
- Prompt Masterful Inputs Every Time with ClickUp
- How Mastering Prompt Engineering Can Help Advance Your Career
- Key Takeaways
- Common FAQs
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Prompt Engineering?
At its core, prompt engineering is a careful process of crafting input language that brings out clear, more specific responses from AI language models like GPT-3 and GitHub Copilot.
So, what’s the fuss behind dedicated courses for something so simple?
You see, AI models have a variety of approaches for data processing and interpretation—they only produce the desired output when guided by clear instructions, i.e., prompts.
For instance, try giving ChatGPT this prompt: Write a cover letter for a recent graduate looking for a data analyst job at IBM. This prompt has many vague areas open to interpretation, such as: What graduate? Would any language style work?
The solution is more detailed prompts, like: Write a cover letter for a recent computer science graduate looking for a data analyst job at IBM. Keep it concise and professional and mention the candidate’s university achievements.
Demystifying prompting: The evolution of prompt engineering
Prompt engineering has its roots firmly planted in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). Let’s review its journey across four developmental phases:
- Early NLP: The mid-20th century saw rule-based AI systems (that used pre-set rules to calculate and make decisions) struggling with language nuances. The algorithms lacked the solid foundation necessary to navigate the complexities of human language
- ML-enabled shift: The late 20th and early 21st centuries witnessed a data-driven revolution. Machine learning empowered flexible AI models that could handle language. However, understanding context and long-form text remained a hurdle
- Transformer triumph: 2017’s research paper titled Attention is All You Need unveiled the Transformer deep learning architecture, capable of processing vast data and capturing intricate patterns. It allowed models to analyze text, differentiate between multiple-meaning words, and contextually process phrases based on surrounding words
- OpenAI’s GPT: The release of OpenAI’s GPT-3 in 2020 has put prompt engineering in the spotlight. While ChatGPT can generate easy-to-understand responses, it cannot think like a human, so there’s the risk of subjectivity, disinformation, and biases in its answers, especially with weak prompts
Summarize this article for me pleaseEssential Role of a Prompt Engineer [And How Courses Help]
The role of prompt engineers is to explore the full potential of AI and LLM models. They specialize in crafting and refining prompts and instructions, helping generate precise responses for different use cases. This requires a deep understanding of how different AI models react to varying inputs—the iterative approach helps prompt engineers to analyze AI’s output patterns and parameters.
Since the specific nuances of prompting might differ based on AI tools, success in this role depends on how fast you adapt your skills to various AI models and maximize their effectiveness.
Luckily, suitable courses can help you master prompting techniques and develop the skills needed to shine as a prompt engineer. Some common learning themes in these courses include:
- Defining the goals and challenges for problem-solving with generative AI models
- Providing context to AI text generators and chatbots in terms of stylistic direction
- Using prompts to understand software development and algorithm behavior concepts
- Exploring techniques like zero-shot prompting and few-shot prompting
Summarize this article for me please10 Popular Prompt Engineering Courses for Budding Prompt Engineers [Free & Paid Courses]
The emerging sphere of prompt engineering has paved the way for numerous courses that help you master prompting concepts and upskill faster. Let’s dive right into the 10 most impactful options for both experienced and rookie professionals in 2024. Take a look! ?
1. Coursera: Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT
Course Instructor(s): Dr. Jules White (content available in 21 languages)
Duration: 18 hours (approximately)
Pricing: Free to enroll. Certification costs $49
The Coursera Prompt Engineering Course for ChatGPT is designed to provide comprehensive training in crafting effective prompts for generative AI applications. With over 30 video modules and nearly nine hours of instructional content, this Coursera course is designed to equip learners with essential prompt engineering skills.
Taught by Jules White, associate professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, this Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT course certainly offers an immersive introductory learning experience for all aspiring prompt engineers.
Key Course Curriculum
- Course Introduction
- Introduction to Prompts
- Prompt Patterns I
- Few-Shot Examples
- Prompt Patterns II
- Prompt Patterns III
- Flexible Learning and Affordable Certification
This course also offers you a broad understanding of related disciplines like machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning.
2. DeepLearning.AI & OpenAI: ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers
Course Instructor(s): Isa Fulford and Andrew Ng
Duration: 1 hour
Pricing: Free
The second free course on our list is provided by DeepLearning.AI in collaboration with OpenAI. It equips you with a comprehensive and highly technical understanding of prompt engineering. Led by experts Isa Fulford (OpenAI) and Dr. Andrew Ng (DeepLearning.AI), the course dives deep into crafting effective prompts that unlock the power of LLMs like ChatGPT.
Unlike other free prompt engineering courses that mainly focus on web interfaces, this one allows you to utilize the full potential of LLMs via API calls. The knowledge may help you build cutting-edge generative AI applications for summarizing complex information and crafting captivating narratives.
Key Course Curriculum
- An Introduction to Prompt Engineering
- Guidelines
- Iterative
- Summarization
- Inference
- Transformation
- Expansion
- Chatbot
- The Conclusion
This DeepLearning-powered course prioritizes practical knowledge through use cases like:
- Summarizing condensed data into clear summaries using advanced ML techniques
- Making informed judgments based on incomplete data
- Altering text styles or forms while preserving their meaning
- Generating brief ideas and weaving them into narratives with neural networks and deep learning
3. LearnPrompting.org: Introductory Course on Prompt Engineering
Course Instructor(s): Sander Schulhoff and Fady Yanni
Duration: 1 week (learn at your own pace)
Pricing: Free
Professionals interested in research-based prompt engineering (PE) techniques can start their journey with LearnPrompting’s introductory prompt engineering course. It’s designed for both beginners and seasoned AI users, featuring an extensive curriculum of over 60 content modules and offering support in nine languages. This course takes you from AI fundamentals to advanced techniques, making it a one-stop shop for mastering inputs in large language models (LLMs).
Key Course Curriculum
- Explore how prompts work with language models like ChatGPT
- Delve into advanced topics like role prompting, few-shot prompting, and chatbot development
- Detailed discussions, practical examples, and engaging visuals
- Prompts, instructions, role-playing, few-shot learning, prompt combination, formalization, chatbot basics, LLM settings, and common pitfalls
4. Cameron R. Wolfe: Advanced Prompt Engineering
Course Instructor(s): Cameron R. Wolfe
Duration: 2-3 hours (approximately)
Pricing: Free
This is one of the free prompt engineering courses targeted at advanced learners. Skipping the basics of prompt engineering, instructor Cameron R. Wolfe delves into how programmers can solve more intricate problems with multiple techniques and prompt recipes, such as Chain of Thought Prompting and Knowledge Augmentation, to avoid AI hallucinations.
We must mention that the course is completely text-based. It’s perceived to be a great resource for intermediate coders and data science professionals who are looking for an in-depth understanding of how artificial intelligence and prompting interact.
Key Course Curriculum
- Chain of thought prompting
- Knowledge augmentation
- Automatic prompting
- Prompt embedding
- Zero/few-shot learning
- Gradient descent
5. Udemy: The Zero To Hundred Masterclass
Course Instructor(s): Hasaan Khan
Duration: 2.5 hours of video content
Pricing: $34.99
This Udemy course is helpful for people who want a unique perspective and gain access to diverse concepts—right from the basics to advanced prompting techniques. With 18 video lectures, the lecturer goes over the importance of prompt engineering while highlighting its key use cases in various projects like marketing plans and AI product development.
By breaking down complex concepts, such as Retrieval Augmented Generation and Self-Consistency, the course helps prompt engineers to have more confidence while making prompt-based choices. In the end, candidates will be eligible to receive a certificate of completion.
Key Course Curriculum
- Introduction to Prompt Engineering
- Foundation of Prompt Engineering
- Prompt Engineering Examples
- Advanced Prompt Engineering Techniques
- Self-Consistency & Generate Knowledge Prompting
6. James Bachini: Advanced MidJourney Prompt Engineering
Course Instructor(s): James Bachini
Duration: 1-2 hours
Pricing: $12/month (approximately)
James Bachini provides a course catered to designers who want to craft good prompts for creating digital art. However, the course content may only be useful for those who want to use the MidJourney program. This is because James covers specific commands that may not work on other models such as ChatGPT.
The course is available over Discord via an invite link, while users can also visit the instructor’s YouTube channel to find more content.
Key Course Curriculum
- Introduction to MidJourney Commands
- Tips and Tricks
- Styles and Flags
- Prompts for designing like other artists
7. IBM: Introduction to Prompt Engineering
Course Instructor(s): Rav Ahuja
Duration: 3 weeks
Pricing: Free to enroll
IBM hosts a basic prompt engineering course for beginners who want to learn the best practices for writing prompts in any AI model. The instructor, Rav, goes over common prompt engineering tools and approaches in writing prompts.
The course has really cool video lectures on concepts like Text-to-Text Prompting and Interview Patterns. At the end of the program, you can apply for a Professional Certificate in Generative AI.
Note that the course has geographical restrictions at the time of writing this article—learners from Iran, Cuba, and the Crimea region of Ukraine will not be able to enroll.
Key Course Curriculum
- Prompt Engineering for Generative AI
- Techniques and Approaches
- Course Quiz, Project, and Wrap-up
8. Udemy: The Complete Prompt Engineering for AI Bootcamp (2024)
Course Instructor(s): Mike Taylor and James Phoenix
Duration: 14.5 hours of video content (on-demand)
Pricing: $89.99
The second Udemy course on this list enables users to learn the best practices in prompt engineering for multiple languages like GPT-4 and Stable Diffusion. The instructors discuss the pros and cons of different large language models and guide users to apply their knowledge across 15 real-world projects.
Candidates looking to pursue a career in AI can also learn about Python coding patterns to scale AI as they begin working as prompt engineers. The course has 89 downloadable resources, and you’ll have some assignment commitments as well.
Key Course Curriculum
- Introduction
- Five Principles of Prompting
- Advanced and Standard Prompt Techniques
- Prompt Optimization
- AI Text Model Projects
9. Elvis Saravia: Prompt Engineering Guide
Course Instructor(s): Elvis Saravia
Duration: 1-2 weeks
Pricing: Free
Elvis Saravia provides in-depth prompt engineering knowledge for those wishing to expand their mastery in this field. This guide goes over multiple core topics, such as LLM settings, prompt elements, and indirect reasoning. It contains research papers on AI hallucinations and Jailbreaking to provide a better expert overview of how current LLMs work.
Key Course Curriculum
- Introduction
- Techniques
- Application
- Models
- Risks and misuses
- Research findings
10. Maximilian Vogel: Free Prompt Engineering Course
Course Instructor(s): Maximilian Vogel
Duration: 1 hour
Pricing: Free
The last course on the list is for those pinched for time. This one-hour basic guide is for anyone who has just started out or desires entry-level know-how. Explaining a variety of prompt techniques and templates, Maximilian helps beginners understand how they can use different prompt approaches and clear language to get exact outputs. We love that this course follows an easy-to-understand language that doesn’t confuse readers with technical jargon.
Key Course Curriculum
- Writing descriptive instructions
- Chain-of-thought reasoning
- Using prompt templates
- Formatting prompts
- Multi Prompt approach
Summarize this article for me pleasePrompt Masterful Inputs Every Time with ClickUp
Writing accurate and to-the-point prompts is essential to make the most of any large language model. However, it’s not always possible to commit long hours to courses when you need expert prompts right away.
That’s where ClickUp, an end-to-end productivity solution, comes in. As an AI-powered work platform, ClickUp offers a variety of templates to fast-track your everyday tasks, including interactions with generative AI tools like ChatGPT—and across use cases like human resources management and education.
Access curated prompt libraries with ClickUp’s AI prompt templates
You can access free AI prompt templates directly from ClickUp’s template library, which has 1,000+ options to support both AI and non-AI-related work. Let’s explore three options for product management, project management, and engineering that can elevate how your team uses ChatGPT and similar tools.
ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Product Management
Drowning in market data, user feedback, and endless to-do lists? As a product manager, the pressure to come up with exceptional product feature ideas can feel overwhelming. Break free from the chaos with the ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Product Management Template.
With 130+ powerful prompts for end-to-end tasks, this ClickUp template helps you to:
- Understand your customers’ needs and desires with prompt variations that display pain points and relevant solutions
- Brainstorm innovative strategies using prompt sets that consider factors like pricing and user experience
- Build product roadmaps and generate strategies to complete development phases or sprints within deadlines
All prompts are designed with the technical aspects of LLMs and how they process data kept in mind.
ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Project Management
Project management can quickly turn into data overload scenarios with saturated idea pools. With the ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Project Management Template, you can now boost your productivity and management capabilities tenfold!
This comprehensive template helps tackle multiple product management challenges by providing 190+ prompts that can:
- Identify and minimize risks in any type of project and outline the best ways to keep things moving within deadlines
- Ideate communication flows among team members to keep everyone on the same page
- See how to create a system for tracking progress in any project (based on simple inputs)
ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Engineering
You can further understand what prompt engineers do by exploring the ClickUp ChatGPT Prompts for Engineering Template.
Instead of juggling different AI coding tools, prompt engineers can use this template to conquer communication and operational challenges through 200+ prompts categorized into 12+ use cases, including AI coding, bug reports, data analysis, technical specifications, and sprint retrospectives.
You can even leverage technical writing prompts to craft professional user manuals, proposals, and research reports.
This template goes beyond mere prompts. You get:
- Custom project views for visualizing your projects in various formats like Board or Gantt view for optimal organization and task management
- Time tracking, tags, relationships, and time estimates for running any engineering project
The best part is that you can observe ClickUp’s prompts and improve your knowledge of how prompting works over time. ✌️
There’s more! Simplify your day with ClickUp Brain, an AI assistant for maximizing efficiency
With ClickUp’s native AI neural network, ClickUp Brain, you or your team can stay productive across a variety of tasks. It’s a generative AI assistant that can help with content creation, idea generation, and knowledge management.
ClickUp Brain removes the need to overthink prompts. It comes with 100+ industry-specific, research-backed prompts to support various roles in a project team. Just launch the AI tool and pick your favorite prompts to create project timelines, reports, meeting agendas, and more!
So, save time writing emails, summarizing meeting notes and project documents, noting live meeting transcripts, and even generating creative blog posts and landing pages. ClickUp’s integrations with other work tools are just the thing professionals need to get stuff done on time!
Additionally, ClickUp Brain’s neural network is the first in the world to connect all your tasks, processes, documents, and workflow communication—which makes it an interactive knowledge base. Users can extract answers with simple-language inputs like:
- What is the goal of this task?
- What did Terry work on last week?
- How does our company’s revision process work?
- What are the SOPs for quality assessment?
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow Mastering Prompt Engineering Can Help Advance Your Career
Becoming a prompt engineer can generate exciting developments in your AI career, unlocking further opportunities in:
- AI research and development: Research and development professionals equipped with advanced prompting skills can unlock the full potential of AI systems in diverse areas like streamlining workflows and reducing research and operations costs
- Data analysis: Data scientists use generative AI models for tasks like data synthesis or predictive modeling. Strong prompt engineering empowers them to optimize these models for specific business objectives, ensuring valuable and relevant insights
- Chatbot development and marketing: Chatbots and conversational AI thrive on coherent responses. Professionals who understand prompt engineering can help churn brand-aligned, impactful content with AI tools, maximizing the ROI of their tech investments
Summarize this article for me pleaseKey Takeaways
The AI revolution is here, and the key to optimizing its potential lies in your ability to leverage prompts. Ready to upskill as a prompt engineer? Look no further than the amazing courses we discussed and ClickUp, your ultimate platform for mastering prompt engineering through practice. ?
With custom templates, ChatGPT prompts, help docs, and a native generative AI, ClickUp offers multiple ways to upgrade your AI literacy! Sign up today and start using prompts that just click!
Summarize this article for me pleaseCommon FAQs
1. How long does it take to learn prompt engineering?
To master prompt engineering, you might require two to three months. However, the duration may vary based on your learning pace and commitment.
2. Does prompt engineering have a future?
With the rapid advancements in AI and large language models, prompt engineering has emerged as a crucial skill. The demand for ChatGPT prompt engineering professionals has skyrocketed in the past five years—prompt engineers with high AI literacy and hands-on experience can command annual pay scales of $330,000+.
3. Is prompt engineering easy to learn?
Becoming proficient in this field is a gradual process. You won’t find a dedicated prompt engineering institute everywhere. Candidates have to take the right courses and develop their skills through theoretical and practical studies.
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
