From Zero to AI Engineer: The Complete 2026 Roadmap (No CS Degree Required)

Sign-up for DataCamp AI Engineer for Developers Track ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/AIDev

In this video, I'm breaking down the complete roadmap to becoming an AI engineer in 2026 and beyond. I'll cover what AI engineers actually do, the 3 paths to break into the field, core skills you need to master, specialization options, how to build your portfolio with hands-on projects, and salary expectations at every level. If you're thinking about becoming an AI engineer or transitioning into AI, this video is for you.

???? My Hands-on LLM Course: https://sklab.io/p/ai

Chapters:
00:00 - AI Engineer Salaries and Career Overview
00:33 - What Does an AI Engineer Do?
01:20 - AI Engineer vs ML Engineer Explained
02:14 - Three Paths to Becoming an AI Engineer
02:49 - Foundational Skills You Need
03:21 - Core AI Concepts to Master
04:35 - Python Tools and Libraries
05:21 - T-Shaped Learning Approach
06:11 - DataCamp AI Track (sponsored) Sponsorship
07:24 - AI Engineer Specializations
09:29 - Building Hands-On Projects
11:26 - Job Prospects and Salary Breakdown

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# Watch this Next

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# COURSES & CERTIFICATES

Learn from Sundas:
⭐️ Sign-up for hands-on AI Engineering course ???????? https://sklab.io/p/ai
???? 5 Data Scientist Hands-on Projects ???????? https://sklab.io/p/datascience
???? Negotiate your salary like a PRO ???????? https://sklab.io/p/salary

???? ALL COURSES ???????? https://kit.co/SundasKhalid

# Salary Negotiation

???? Sign up for Salary Negotiation ???????? [https://salary.sklab.io](https://salary.sklab.io/)

# Data Scientist

???? Data Science Certificate ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/DataScienceCert
???? Data Science Bootcamp ???????? http://datacamp.pxf.io/DS
???? Data Scientist Bootcamp ???????? https://bit.ly/data-scientist-bootcamp

# Data Analyst

1️⃣ Google Data Analytics Certificate ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/GoogleDataCert
2️⃣ Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/advanced-data-analyst
???? Data Analyst Certification ???????? http://datacamp.pxf.io/data-analyst_cert
⚡ IBM Data Analytics Certificate ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/ibm-data-analyst
???? Microsoft BI Data Analyst Certificate ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/msft-dataanalyst

# Product Manager

⚡ AI Product Manager Certification by OpenAI PM (25% off) ???????? https://maven.com/product-faculty/ai-product-management-certification?promoCode=SUNDAS25YT

# Data Engineer

???? Data Engineer Certificate ???????? http://datacamp.pxf.io/DE
???? Meta Data Engineer Certificate ???????? http://imp.i384100.net/meta-dataengineer
⚡ IBM Data Engineer ???????? http://imp.i384100.net/data-engineer

# Python

???? Python for Everybody ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/PythonSpec
⚡ Intro to Python I ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/Python_1
???? Intro to Python II ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/PythonII
???? Python for Machine Learning ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/ML101

# SQL

✨ SQL 101 ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/SQL101
⚡ SQL Basics for Data Science ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/SQLforDS
???? SQL Associate Certificate ???????? http://datacamp.pxf.io/SQL-cert
???? SQL Bootcamp ???????? https://bit.ly/sql-bootcamps

# Machine Learning

???? Machine Learning Bootcamp ???????? https://bit.ly/machine-learning-atoz
⚙️ Machine Learning Specialization ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/ML
⚡ Deep Learning ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/deeplearning
⚙️ AI Engineer Certificate https://imp.i384100.net/AI

# Statistics

⚙️ Intro to Stats for Data Science ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/Stats101
???? Intro to Statistics ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/Stats

# EXCEL

???? Excel for Data Analysis ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/Excel
✍️ Excel 101 ???????? https://datacamp.pxf.io/Excel101

# MY FAVORITE TOOLS

???? Practice Coding Interviews ???????? https://www.stratascratch.com/?via=sundas
✍️ Coursera Plus 7 day free trial ???????? https://imp.i384100.net/CourseraPlus
???? Julius AI for data analysis ???????? https://julius.ai/?via=Sundas
???? Datacamp AI Datalab ???????? [datacamp.pxf.io/datalabs](http://datacamp.pxf.io/datalabs)

# Social Media

???? Website: https://sundaskhalid.com
???? Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundaskhalid
???? Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sundaskhalidd
????️ Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sundaskhalidd

Some of the links included are affiliate links and help me keep this channel going. Thanks for the support. Business inquiries: team@sundaskhalid.com

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