Do you need an AI prompt engineering course? 10 ways to tell

June 24, 2025
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In just a few years, AI has become a buzzword that every business professional and every day person encounters regularly—in their inbox, on their devices, and even in casual conversations.

Regardless of your profession or position, you’ve probably used some sort of generative AI tool for your professional and/or personal life.

But these tools are only as powerful as the instructions they’re given.

This is where having skills in prompt engineering comes in.

Key takeaways

Learning how to use AI models is a collaboration between science and art.
Well-crafted prompts will lead to more insightful and tailored AI responses, ensuring accuracy and relevance in all types of responses, particularly for more complex tasks.
Prompt engineering empowers users to guide AI effectively, treating it as a collaborator rather than a replacement for human creativity.

Index

Prompt engineering is the skill of crafting effective prompts to guide AI tools toward useful, creative, and accurate outputs.

But as with any emerging skill, it raises this question:

“Do I really need to take a course to get better at this?”

If you’re wondering whether or not you need professional expertise when it comes to writing strong AI prompts, here are 10 signs a prompt engineering course might be exactly what you need.

#1: Your AI outputs are inconsistent or underwhelming

Even if you feel as though you’ve already mastered certain prompt engineering techniques, there are new ways that are constantly being created to help improve the quality, clarity, and control of your outputs—especially as AI models evolve.

If your results still vary in tone, relevance, or depth, it’s a signal that your prompts may need fine-tuning in order for your large language models (LLMs) to generate outputs that align more closely with your intent and expectations.

A prompt engineering course can expose you to advanced frameworks, emerging best practices, and creative prompt patterns that make your interactions more predictable and powerful.

In a world where AI is always learning, you should be too.

#2: You’re wasting time trying to get the “right answer”

If you find yourself rephrasing the same question 5 different ways just to get one usable result, you’re not alone.

Most users of AI models find that there is a relatively steep learning curve when it comes to communicating clearly and effectively with LLMs. The challenge isn’t just in wording—it’s in the foundational understanding of how these tools interpret instructions, manage context, and prioritize information.

Without a solid grasp of prompt engineering fundamentals, you may spend more time wrestling with phrasing than getting results.

A well-structured prompt engineering course can flatten that learning curve by giving you the technical expertise to ask the right questions the right way. To understand why prompt structure is so important, it helps to first know what is prompt engineering in AI and how it influences AI behavior.

Master prompt engineering basics

Learn how to write effective prompts that get better results from AI—no experience needed.

#3: You work with AI tools daily, or plan to

Whether you’re a copywriter using AI to brainstorm headlines, a researcher summarizing documents, or a product manager testing user flows with ChatGPT, prompt engineering is part of your everyday life.

This means that the better you are at creating effective prompts, the better your results will be.

If you’re relying on AI to power your productivity or creativity, even small improvements in how you phrase requests can lead to huge time savings, sharper insights, and stronger outputs.

Zero-shot prompting, few-shot prompting, chain of thought prompting, and other techniques are all advanced strategies that help you communicate more effectively with generative AI models to generate clearer and more relevant results.

#4: You want to use multiple gen AI tools…not just one

Knowing how to write an AI prompt for ChatGPT is great, but what about knowing how to use it for other platforms as well?

For example:

Microsoft Copilot for Excel: Use prompts to automate complex tasks like summarizing trends on spreadsheets, identifying outliers, or building dynamic pivot tables—all through natural language instead of formulas.
GrammarlyGO: Prompt engineering can be a great tool for summarizing meeting notes, creating content outlines, rewriting paragraphs for tone, or brainstorming relevant responses for new projects within your daily workflow.
Canva Magic Write: Use advanced prompting techniques to quickly generate marketing images or Instagram posts that are tailored to your brand’s tone and the intended audience.

Prompt engineering is a foundational skill that transfers across platforms. A course equips you with reusable frameworks and patterns that apply broadly, no matter the tool.

#5: You’re a manager or team lead introducing AI at work

If you’re responsible for onboarding AI into employee workflows, a basic understanding probably won’t suffice.

As a person in leadership, having a firm grasp on more than just prompt engineering basics is becoming increasingly important.

You need to model best practices and be able to train your team to use AI in real-world projects as effectively and authentically as possible.

Arming yourself with good prompt engineering course materials will help you lead with confidence as AI becomes a core part of your organization’s workflow.

Write prompts that work

Master the art of crafting clear, effective AI prompts to boost your productivity and communication with advanced tools.

#6: You’ve tried DIY learning, but you’re still guessing

You’ve read the blog posts, watched a few YouTube videos, maybe even bookmarked a prompt cheat sheet or two.

But when it comes to applying what you’ve learned, the results are still feeling very hit-or-miss.

This is when you’re a perfect candidate for a course in prompt engineering.

Writing effective prompts is part science and part art. The best prompt engineering courses will teach you how to apply the skills you already have and layer in proven strategies that help you communicate more clearly and consistently in a way that feels natural to your learning style.

#7: You want to stand out in a competitive job market

Effective prompt engineering is quickly becoming a sought-after skill across all sorts of industries—from marketing and software development to HR roles and consulting.

Being able to list “proficient in prompt engineering” on your résumé isn’t just trendy—it’s evidence you know how to work with AI strategically rather than from a reactionary space.

Investing in yourself means developing a skill set that keeps you ahead of the curve—not just keeping up with it. Gaining advanced knowledge about prompt engineering will demonstrate to potential employers that you understand how to leverage AI to solve real-world problems, enhance productivity, and generate ideas that drive results.

#8: You know AI isn’t just the future—it’s now

The rate of change that’s happening on the AI front is staggering.

New models, tools, and integrations launch almost weekly. From language models that write code or compose music to image generators that create hyper-realistic visuals, the ecosystem of generative AI continues to expand.

Platforms that barely existed a year ago are now used daily by businesses, creators, and everyday users alike.

Taking a course in prompt engineering can help you stay grounded amid the chaos, giving you not only the skills and the confidence to thrive in this exciting time.

Prompt engineering,

simplified

Take your first step into the world of AI with this beginner-friendly learning path from CodeSignal.

How to choose the right prompt engineering course

While you can get an overview of prompt engineering by watching tutorials or reading a few articles online, choosing to do a deeper dive into this important AI skill is best done by taking a course on the subject.

From beginner basic bootcamps to deep-dive masterclasses, there is a myriad of prompt engineering courses to choose from, depending on what you’re looking for.

Here are a few things to consider before you choose:

Find your AI superpowers with CodeSignal

In a world increasingly powered by generative AI, prompt engineering is no longer a niche skill—it’s a critical competency.

Whether you’re drafting content, building workflows, or leading innovation at work, knowing how to guide AI effectively will set you apart.

At CodeSignal, we empower individuals and teams to develop the strategic prompting skills that make AI more useful, more creative, and more aligned with real-world needs.

From designing smarter prompts to collaborating across multiple tools, we provide hands-on training and support to help you thrive in today’s AI-first landscape.

With practice-based experiential learning courses and an AI-powered tutor and assistant at your side, you’ll build not just confidence—but fluency in the language of intelligent machines.  

Start your journey with CodeSignal Learn and discover what’s possible when you create prompts with purpose in mind.

Tigran Sloyan

Author, Co-Founder, CEO @ CodeSignal, Contributor @ Forbes and Fast Company

CodeSignal is how the world discovers and develops the skills that will shape the future. Our skills platform empowers you to go beyond skills gaps with hiring and AI-powered learning tools that help you and your team cultivate the skills needed to level up.

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