Home/Coursera/Generative AI for Software Development Specialization
DeepLearning.AI · on Coursera

Generative AI for Software Development Specialization

4.6(3,200)·85K enrolled
Intermediate 40 hours English Professional CertificateFREE

About this course

This specialization picks up where general GenAI awareness courses leave off — it's built for engineers who want to actually ship LLM-powered features, not just understand the concepts. Across several courses, you work through prompt engineering patterns, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), fine-tuning open models, evaluation strategies, and the engineering tradeoffs of deploying generative AI in production software.

DeepLearning.AI built its reputation on the original Deep Learning Specialization with Andrew Ng, and this program carries the same rigor — code-first labs over slide-heavy theory, taught by practitioners who've shipped GenAI features at scale. It assumes you can already code in Python; it does not assume deep ML theory background, making it accessible to software engineers pivoting into AI-enabled product work rather than ML researchers.

What you'll learn

Design effective prompts for production LLM applications
Build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines
Fine-tune open-source language models for specific tasks
Evaluate and benchmark generative AI application quality
Understand the cost, latency, and reliability tradeoffs of LLM deployment
Ship a complete GenAI-powered application end to end

This course includes

40h
On-demand video
Yes
Certificate
Yes
Mobile access
English
Language
Comparison · LBS

Compare alternatives for Generative AI for Software Development Specialization

Same topic, different options. We surface the trade-offs others hide so you can pick the course that actually fits your time, budget, and goals.
Coursera4.6(3,200)
Generative AI for Software Development Specialization
Price
Free
Audit free · Certificate $49/mo
Duration
40 hrs
Level
Intermediate
Certificate
Professional
MIT OpenCourseWare4.9(15,000)
Linear Algebra (18.06)
Price
Free
Completely free, openly licensed — no certificate
Duration
34 hrs
Level
Intermediate
Certificate
Stanford Online4.9(9,000)
CS231n: Deep Learning for Computer Vision
Price
Free
Free lecture materials; some versions paid
Duration
50 hrs
Level
Advanced
Certificate
Stanford Online4.9(7,000)
CS224n: Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning
Price
Free
Free lecture materials; some versions paid
Duration
50 hrs
Level
Advanced
Certificate
Prices & availability can change — confirm on the provider's site. We're not affiliated with any single provider.

Instructor

DT
DeepLearning.AI Team
Coursera instructor
85K+ learners9 courses4.6 instructor rating

Taught by DeepLearning.AI's instructor team, the organization founded by Andrew Ng that has trained millions of learners through its Deep Learning and Machine Learning Specializations on Coursera.

Requirements

  • Working proficiency in Python
  • Basic familiarity with APIs and software engineering concepts
  • No prior ML theory background required

Who this course is for

  • Software engineers who want to build LLM-powered features, not just use ChatGPT
  • ML engineers moving from traditional ML into generative AI
  • Product engineers tasked with adding AI features to existing software

About this provider

CO
Coursera
University-backed online learning platform. 142M learners, 7,000+ courses from 325+ institutions.
Visit Coursera

Frequently asked questions

No. It's designed for software engineers, not ML researchers. You need solid Python skills, but the specialization explains the AI concepts as it goes.
Yes — DeepLearning.AI also offers free, shorter standalone courses on specific topics (prompting, LangChain, etc). This specialization is the structured, multi-course program that ties those skills into building and deploying complete applications.
Graduates typically come away able to build RAG-based applications, fine-tune models for narrow tasks, and make informed architecture decisions about when to use which LLM technique in production software.
DeepLearning.AI certificates are well-regarded in the AI/ML hiring community given Andrew Ng's standing, though as with any certificate, it's strongest combined with a portfolio of shipped projects.
Free
to audit
Enroll now