Stage 5: Deep learning
Learn how neural networks are built from layers, how loss and
optimisation work and how to train with PyTorch or TensorFlow. Train a
small image or text model, track experiments and learn to recognise
overfitting. Read an introduction to transformers so that you understand
tokens, embeddings and attention at a conceptual level. You do not need
to train a large model from scratch to build useful applications, but
you need to understand what the models do.
Stage 6: LLM applications
Learn how to call a hosted or open model through an API, design prompts,
request structured output, add retrieval from your own documents, let a
model call tools and evaluate results. Build a small assistant on a
document set, create a test set of questions with expected answers and
measure quality, cost and response time. Treat model output as
untrusted: validate, cite sources and design for the cases in which the
model is wrong.
Stage 7: Deployment and MLOps
Wrap your model or application in an API, containerise it, add
configuration through environment variables and deploy it to a cloud
platform or a small server. Add logging, basic monitoring for latency,
errors and cost, and a pipeline that runs tests on each change.
Document how to reproduce training and how to roll back.