A longer trainee-focused version of this module is being authored separately. The summary below introduces the key concepts that frame the rest of the program; expect it to expand before Day 1.
The shift in 2026
In a 2020-era bootcamp, you’d spend three months learning to write code. In 2026, you spend most of your time learning to direct code — specifying what you want, evaluating what you get back, and deciding what’s worth shipping.
The Claude API and Claude Code are not assistants. They’re peer engineers. You’ll work with Claude every day this summer — using it to scaffold features, refactor code, write tests, debug failures, and review your own pull requests before submitting them.
This shifts the most important skills:
| Old | New |
|---|---|
| Writing every line yourself | Specifying what you want, then refining what Claude produces |
console.log debugging | Trace-driven debugging via Langfuse |
| Tests after the fact | Evals defined alongside (or before) the feature |
| Manual QA before deploying | CI/CD that deploys on every merge |
| Solo work | Pair programming with Claude + cohort |
The Product Engineer
The role we’re training for in this program is the Product Engineer — one person who can take a product idea from sketch to deployed, working app. Front-end, back-end, AI integration, deployment, observability — all of it. Not because you’ll memorize every detail of each layer, but because the tools (especially Claude) make it possible for a single thoughtful person to ship a full system.
This is sometimes called the 1-pizza team — small enough to feed with one pizza, capable of shipping something real.
The weekly rhythm
Every week from Week 1 onward is a single Saturday session, 9 AM – 6 PM (1-hour lunch):
- Morning: Lecture + live-coded demo of that week’s new capability
- Early afternoon: You apply the same capability to your own capstone (TAs roam)
- Late afternoon: Recap, code review, sprint review, and prep for the next week
By Demo Day, you’ll have built the same agentic AI application 8 times — once per week, layered with new capabilities each time.
What’s next
If you’ve worked through this module, you’ve completed Get Started. Take a moment to look back at the Get Started hub — you’ve installed a full toolchain, learned to navigate the terminal and editor, picked up enough JavaScript / TypeScript / Python to read and write code in three languages, toured the browser DevTools, and confirmed your environment works end-to-end.
That’s the foundation. Day 1 is Saturday June 13 at 9 AM. See you there.