Self-Taught GenAI Path
After teaching myself generative AI from scratch, I became the go-to AI expert in my Microsoft team. Here are my favorite resources that can set you on the same path—no matter your starting point. This curated list includes five essential books on machine learning systems, LLM deployment, and AI engineering; five hands-on GitHub repositories; five must-watch YouTube videos; five comprehensive learning hubs; and a leading newsletter for ongoing updates. These resources cover everything from foundational concepts and system design to practical coding, agent building, RAG techniques, and production deployment. Whether you’re prepping for interviews, building systems, or looking to lead AI initiatives, this roadmap will accelerate your GenAI journey and help you stand out in your organization.
1. Self-Taught GenAI Resource Guide
I taught myself GenAI from scratch, and it made me the go-to AI expert in my org at Microsoft, and these are my favourite resources to set you up on the same path
5 Books
↳ Designing Machine Learning Systems – Chip Huyen Great for: ML system design tradeoffs. https://lnkd.in/guN-UhXA
↳ Building LLMs for Production – Bouchard & Peters Great for: Real-world LLM deployment. https://lnkd.in/gMkbhzYq
↳ Build a LLM (From Scratch) – Sebastian Raschka Great for: Understanding LLM internals. https://lnkd.in/gXNa-SPb
↳ The LLM Engineering Handbook – Iusztin & Labonne Great for: Modular, scalable GenAI systems. https://lnkd.in/gyA4vFXz
↳ AI Engineering – Chip Huyen Great for: Model serving & product constraints. https://lnkd.in/g-MRviYk
5 GitHub Repos
↳ Karpathy’s Neural Networks: Zero to Hero https://lnkd.in/gZumxBZw
↳ Start Machine Learning by Louis-François Bouchard https://lnkd.in/ga_s6PUg
↳ fastai https://lnkd.in/gvVqbnGa
↳ RAG Techniques – Nir Diamant https://lnkd.in/gA7maM5Y
↳ GenAI Agents – Nir Diamant https://lnkd.in/g5HHZrJK
5 YouTube Videos
↳ Neural Networks Zero to Hero – Karpathy [Playlist] https://lnkd.in/gd2JZ5Wt
↳ Stanford CS336 (2025) https://lnkd.in/gzW4JkW9
↳ CS25: Intro to Transformers – Karpathy https://lnkd.in/gs4iTSpt
↳ 4. Stanford CS229: Building Large Language Models (LLMs) https://lnkd.in/gUzsiN_e
↳ Let’s Build GPT from Scratch - Karpathy https://lnkd.in/gRdq_9tP
5 Learning Hubs
↳ Google x Kaggle GenAI Intensive 5-day sprint on vector search, prompting, coding. https://lnkd.in/ga5X7tVJ
↳ Anthropic Academy Official Claude dev hub — APIs, safety, workflows. https://lnkd.in/gZANmHVk
↳ Microsoft AI Learning Hub Full-stack GenAI learning with Azure tools. https://lnkd.in/ge75-RBK
↳ NVIDIA GenAI/LLM Learning Paths Build, tune, deploy — all in one place. https://lnkd.in/gCtDnhni
↳ DeepLearning.AI Short, practical GenAI and RAG courses. https://lnkd.in/gAYmJqS6