Backend to AI/ML, no PhD needed

Most "get into AI" advice assumes a year of courses and a career break. I did it while working full time — moving from Java and distributed systems into RAG platforms, multi-agent orchestration, and fine-tuning, and I now do that work at staff level.

We'll go through what to learn in what order, which projects create real interview signal versus which ones every candidate already has, how to position backend depth as an advantage rather than a gap, and where the hiring demand actually sits. Strong opinions on what to skip.

Best suited to engineers with 4+ years of backend or platform experience.