> ai_dev_curriculum.sh

From Senior Dev to

AI-Powered Developer

Seven Nights = one Powerful AI Developer

7 sessions

Live demos

Real repos

guide: you

THE MINDSET

The one reframe that unlocks everything

Agents are fast, literal, eager senior devs who never gets tired but needs context

The job shifts from typing to directing and verifying — and that's where the leverage is.

This of you walking into a new company. You can code anything or answer questions But nothing about the company

OLD MUSCLE

Type every line yourself. Stay in control by staying in the editor.

NEW MUSCLE

Direct clearly, then verify critically. Control moves up a level.

THE ARC

Seven nights, building on each other

Each session = one live demo from you + one real-repo exercise before the next. The homework is where it sticks.

1

Mindset & landscape

Agent as teammate; map the tiers

2

Context is everything

Rules files; control what it sees

3

Spec-driven dev

Plan-first; a good work item

4

The inner loop

Refactor, test, debug, read diffs

5

The outer loop / SDLC

PRs, docs, AI code review

6

Automation & agents

CI, connectors, delegate a ticket

7

Judgment & adoption

When not to; security; team rollout

SESSION 01

Mindset & the landscape

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• Agent = a senior teammate you direct, but it’s not magic
• Map the tiers: chat, inline (Copilot), agentic IDEs, terminal agents, CI agents
• Kill the “I need to be in control” reflex

LIVE DEMO

Spin up one AI coding tool and take a small real task from start to finish, thinking out loud.

HOMEWORK

Get one tool running and complete one small real task, end to end.

SESSION 02

Context is the whole game

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• “Doesn't know” vs “hallucinated” — different problems, different fixes
• Control what the agent sees: which files, repo conventions, rules
• Rules files: CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, custom instructions

LIVE DEMO

Run the same task with and without a rules file — watch the output quality jump.

HOMEWORK

Write a context / rules file for one of his real repos so the agent follows team conventions.

SESSION 03

Spec-driven development

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• Turn a ticket into something an agent can execute
• Plan-first: agent proposes a plan → you correct it → then it builds
• It's just writing a good work item — a skill he already has

LIVE DEMO

Take a real backlog item live: generate a plan, review it together, then let it implement.

HOMEWORK

Spec a real backlog item, have the agent build it, and note where the spec was ambiguous.

SESSION 04

The inner loop

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• Everyday work: refactors, test generation, debugging
• Understand unfamiliar / legacy code fast — huge for enterprise devs
• Read diffs critically: trust, but verify

LIVE DEMO

Refactor real code and generate tests for it, reviewing every diff as it comes.

HOMEWORK

Refactor something real; review every line as if it were a junior's PR you're mentoring.

SESSION 05

The outer loop / SDLC

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• Beyond code: PR descriptions, commit messages, documentation
• AI code review — both directions: it reviews his PRs, he reviews its work
• Maps onto his stack: Copilot in PRs, Azure DevOps

LIVE DEMO

Run an AI review on a real PR and compare it against what he'd have caught himself.

HOMEWORK

AI-review a real PR; compare the findings to your own read of the same diff.

SESSION 06

Automation & agentic workflows

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• Longer autonomous tasks; running agents in CI
• Connectors / MCP to feed the agent external context (tickets, docs)
• Delegate a whole work item → PR

LIVE DEMO

Walk through a real work-item→PR dispatch system so it's a built thing, not a toy demo.

HOMEWORK

Automate one repetitive thing in his own day-to-day workflow.

SESSION 07

Judgment, pitfalls & adoption

WHAT HE WALKS AWAY WITH

• When NOT to reach for an agent
• Security: secrets, reviewing generated code, supply-chain risk
• Over-reliance, cost awareness, rolling this out to a team

LIVE DEMO

He teaches one thing back to you — the real test of whether it stuck.

HOMEWORK

Teach one concept back in his own words. The scarce skill is taste and verification, not typing.

> the_point

The scarce skill isn't typing.�

It's taste and verification.

A 20-year veteran already has the judgment. The course just points it at a new way of working — one directed, verified task at a time.

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seven nights → one AI-powered developer