Week 00 — Baseline & environment¶
At a glance
Phase 0: Baseline · Starts: Mon 21 Sep 2026 · Planned: 7h 00m · Light week
Build: Dev environment ready (uv, Docker, Ollama, API keys) + baseline scores recorded in docs/log/
By day¶
Saturday 26 Sep · 5h 30m¶
- Agentic AI · 90 min · Self-assessment quiz on LLM fundamentals/agents/RAG/evals (score 1-5 per topic) + env setup: uv, Docker, Ollama (pull a 7-8B model), OpenAI/Anthropic/Azure keys in a .env, smoke-test one call each → LLM fundamentals: tokens, transformers, sampling, reasoning models · resource
w00-ai-1 - System Design · 60 min · Baseline 60-min SD mock: design a URL shortener end-to-end (requirements, estimates, API, data, scale, failure); self-score with the rubric → Interview framework & back-of-envelope estimation · resource
w00-sd-1 - DSA · 30 min · Baseline medium (timed 30 min, Python): Group Anagrams — note approach + complexity out loud → Problem-solving approach & complexity analysis · resource
w00-dsa-1 - DSA · 30 min · Baseline medium (timed 30 min): Number of Islands — then log all 3 baseline problems (time, pattern, solved?) in the NeetCode 250 tracker → NeetCode 250 problem tracker · resource
w00-dsa-3 - Python · 30 min · Tooling setup: uv python install 3.14 + 3.14t, ruff + ty + pre-commit in a scratch repo; confirm
uv run pytestworks → Modern tooling: uv, ruff, ty, pre-commit · resourcew00-py-1 - Communication · 20 min · Grammar: Grammar diagnostic quiz (40 items) → Week 00 drills · day 1
w00-comm-1 - Communication · 20 min · Speaking drill: Record a 2-minute self-introduction talk (baseline) → Week 00 drills · day 3
w00-comm-3 - Communication · 20 min · Record & shadow: Record a 2-minute self-introduction talk (baseline) → Week 00 drills · day 6
w00-comm-5 - Review · 30 min · Write your goals (role, AI-architect portfolio, interview target date) + skip list from baseline scores into docs/log/baseline.md → Staff archetypes & operating at Staff+
w00-rev-1
Sunday 27 Sep · 1h 30m¶
- DSA · 30 min · Baseline medium (timed 30 min): Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters — use collections/itertools idioms → Python idioms for interviews · resource
w00-dsa-2 - Communication · 20 min · Vocabulary: Vocabulary level check (60 words) → Week 00 drills · day 2
w00-comm-2 - Communication · 20 min · Writing: Write a 150-word status email (baseline) → Week 00 drills · day 5
w00-comm-4 - Communication · 20 min · Soft skills + weekly review: Communication self-assessment → Week 00 drills · day 7
w00-comm-6
By track¶
| Track | Tasks | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Agentic AI | 1 | 1h 30m |
| System Design | 1 | 1h 00m |
| DSA | 3 | 1h 30m |
| Python | 1 | 30m |
| Communication | 6 | 2h 00m |
| Review | 1 | 30m |
End-of-week¶
- Weekly retro written in
docs/log/retros/(template: retro) - Flashcards / explain-it-back done for this week's topics
- Progress synced (close the daily GitHub issues)