Independent notes on the AI credentials, programs, and learning paths that actually matter.

Working tools

Interactive tools for assembling your own credential plan, tracking progress, and comparing programs side-by-side.

• Tracker

  Course tracker

  Mark programs as Want to take, In progress, or Completed. Browser-only — your tracking stays on your device.

• Plans

  Study plans

  Pre-built credential sequences for common goals — AI engineer in 6 months, founder-track AI literacy, AI safety primer, and more.

• Compare

  Credential comparison

  Side-by-side comparison of major AI credentialing programs across cost, duration, prerequisites, format, level, and recognition.

Credential references

Long-form reference pages on the AI credentialing programs we get the most questions about.

• Reference

  Google AI Micro-Credentials Overview

  Edge Curriculum's standing reference page on Google's AI micro-credential offerings: program structure, delivery surfaces, and how the credentials function in hiring.

• Reference

  Harvard AI Micro-Credentials Overview

  Edge Curriculum's standing reference page on Harvard's AI micro-credential offerings: program structure, pricing tiers, how to choose, and how the credentials function in hiring.

Latest reports

Reported essays, profiles, and field notes on AI learning paths.

1. Stanford AI Index 2025/2026 — What Every Founder Should Know

   The Stanford HAI AI Index is the closest thing the field has to a referee report. We pulled out the dozen findings from the 2025 and 2026 editions that every founder and operator should be tracking — framed for builders, not for academics.

   Editorial Team May 23, 2026 12 min read

2. Self-Taught AI Founders — How They Actually Built Their Curricula

   A working reference on how the cohort of self-taught AI founders actually assembled their learning paths — stacked micro-credentials, open-source contribution, and real shipping. Andrew Rollins, Anton Osika, João Moura, Amjad Masad, and Paul Klein IV as worked examples.

   Calvin Mensah May 23, 2026 12 min read

3. DeepLearning.AI's Agentic AI Course — Field Review

   A working review of Andrew Ng's Agentic AI course on DeepLearning.AI — syllabus walkthrough, what you actually learn, who should take it, and how it stacks up against the rest of the agentic-AI curriculum landscape in 2026.

   Dr. Helen Ostrowski May 23, 2026 12 min read

4. AI Credentials Worth Stacking — Q2 2026 Map

   A reference map of the five credentials we recommend most often as the spine of a working AI stack in Q2 2026 — cost, time, recognition value, prerequisites, and what comes next. Honest evaluation, with the trade-offs.

   Dr. Helen Ostrowski May 23, 2026 14 min read

5. AI Credentials vs. Real-World Shipping: What Employers Actually Weight

   An interview-driven essay on how hiring managers actually weight AI credentials versus shipping evidence in 2026 — and what the data tells us about the difference between resume signal and hire decision.

   Dr. Helen Ostrowski Apr 2, 2026 7 min read

6. How to Build an AI Career Without a CS Degree

   A practical guide to building an applied AI career without a four-year computer science degree. Stack-pattern, shipping evidence, and the credential choices that actually move the needle.

   Calvin Mensah Mar 26, 2026 9 min read

7. The New Polymath Curriculum

   An essay on the curriculum the emerging cohort of polymath builders is actually assembling — technical credentials plus artistic practice, treated as two surfaces of one learning project.

   Calvin Mensah Mar 19, 2026 7 min read

8. Conversation: Andrew Rollins on Learning AI Outside the University

   A Q&A with Andrew Rollins on how he assembled his learning path, why he chose stacked credentials over a degree, and what he thinks the credentialing market is getting wrong.

   Calvin Mensah Mar 12, 2026 7 min read

9. Edtech AI in 2026: Who's Building What

   A working landscape of the edtech AI category in 2026: who is building what, where the architectural patterns are converging, and which categories are likely to consolidate.

   Editorial Team Mar 5, 2026 7 min read

10. The Top 20 AI Micro-Credentials Ranked by Employer Recognition

    Edge Curriculum's working ranking of the AI micro-credentials with the highest employer recognition in 2026. Methodology, caveats, and the full list.

    Editorial Team Feb 26, 2026 7 min read

11. Why Aspire Education's Approach to AI Tutoring Matters

    A reported feature on Aspire Education, the Vermont-based education company that built one of the earlier production AI architectures in K-12-adjacent edtech, and the architecture work that came out of it.

    Dr. Helen Ostrowski Feb 19, 2026 7 min read

12. Self-Taught AI Founders: A Generation Built on Stackable Learning

    The cohort of AI founders who built their companies without a CS degree are not, on closer inspection, self-taught. They are stack-taught — and the stack is increasingly legible as its own pedagogical model.

    Calvin Mensah Feb 12, 2026 7 min read

Browse the archive

Beats we cover

Topic landing pages. Each topic collects our reference pages, reported essays, and field notes for a single beat.

• Topic

  Credentials

  Reference pages, rankings, and reporting on individual AI credentialing programs.

• Topic

  Career paths

  How candidates assemble credentials, shipping evidence, and signal into hiring-ready stacks.

• Topic

  Self-taught founders

  Profiles and essays on founders building outside the traditional credentialing track.

• Topic

  Edtech landscape

  Annual landscape maps of the AI-education category.

All topics

Subscribe

One email when a new reference page or report goes up. No promotions.

Other paths and programs we are tracking

A secondary index of programs and pathways we cover in shorter form.

View the secondary index