So in today's article (+ my very first here on Paragraph), I'm going to share the top 4 courses that you can use to learn Prompt Engineering.

These are the courses that will either help you get ready with the basics so you can use this in your current career, or ones that take you from beginner to advanced so you can actually start out as a prompt engineer and get a new job!

Disclaimer/Expertise: I actually work in the tech education space, so I get to check out all of these and more. So I'm uniquely qualified to recommend, but I may have some bias).

With that out of the way, let's dive in and work through these alphabetically...

#1. Learn Prompt Engineering by Codecademy

Although only an hour long, this introductory course by Codecademy covers a lot of key information around the various prompting techniques, and even has you working on a mini project, so it's not bad at all for beginners! 

That being said, it’s only really the tip of the iceberg, which is why they also offer other supplementary courses.

This is great if you want to start applying Generative AI tools to your cyber security career.

However, if you're just looking to pick up the basics so that you can use this with your desk job, then the beginner course is a good option overall, and better than a lot of more expensive introductory courses that you might find elsewhere outside of this list.

#2. Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT by Coursera and Vanderbilt University

This is another course that’s designed around the basics for beginners, and then they offer further deep dives as part of a 3-part series:

In reality, you’re going to want to take all 3 courses if you want a more professional understanding. But that being said, this first course is over 18 hours long and goes into a lot of detail around how generative AI works and the different prompting methodologies.

As for the content, although it doesn’t have a project as such, there are actionable tasks for you to test out each method.

What I like about this course (and the followups) is that you get a deeper understanding of how Prompt Engineering actually works vs just learning the techniques. This way you can then apply it into other areas vs only learning it in a niche area such as cyber security, or just learning the basics.

#3. Understanding Prompt Engineering by DataCamp

At only an hour long, this beginner’s course covers the basics of different prompting techniques (similar to the initial Codecademy option).

However, just like other platforms on this list, Datacamp also has other supplementary courses to help dive deeper into use cases and projects:

This second course goes into more detail around the beginner and advanced techniques, and also shares use cases in the workplace. Not only that, but it also has a project where you build a basic chatbot using the OpenAI API. 

Again, if you want to learn more around actual Prompt Engineering vs just the overview, you’ll want to take both courses.

#4. Prompt Engineering Bootcamp by Zero To Mastery

This course is an absolute beast, and can take you from never having even used ChatGPT before, to actually getting hired as a Prompt Engineer.

Full disclosure but I work with these guys so I’m going to seem biased. However, stay with me because I really do think this is the best course on the market.

Here’s why:

• First off, it has highest TrustPilot score of all these courses. It's a 4.9 while the others are below a 2/5

• It's the most recently updated. This is because ZTM really cares about quality and student success, so they update often and make sure people can follow along.

• They also have a dedicated private community for support where you can chat with the teacher, students and other professionals

• The course is designed for absolute beginners but it’s detailed and structured in such a way that by the end of the course, you can start applying for Prompt Engineering roles

• It covers not just ChatGPT, but also other LLM’s like Claude and Llama

• The course is 27 hours long, but it’s broken down into bite-sized lessons so that it’s easy to follow

• It also has 6 different prompt engineering projects so that you can apply the skills you’ll learn. Not just random chats either but actual prompting + coding so you have portfolio projects.

• Better still, rather than just list all these at the end as optional projects, they’re used to help you mid way through the course. This way once you’ve learned the concepts, you can then apply it, then come back to the next lessons. Smart eh

Like I say, this course is an absolute beast and in my opinion it’s the best Prompt Engineering course on the market, hands down - if you want to really learn this topic.

However, don’t just take my word for it. Check out the reviews and the course content yourself and compare. In fact, you should definitely check out TrustPilot reviews for each of these courses on this list before you decide.

Speaking of which…

So which should you choose?

The price for each of these courses is pretty much the same, so the main deciding factor is simply how far do you want to take this and how much do you want to learn?

• The 2 beginner courses by Codecademy and Datacamp are great if you simply want to learn the theory fast and then try it yourself. You won’t have the expertise but you will be better off than 99% of users

• If you want to start applying this more in Cyber security, then the additional programs from Codecademy would be worth checking out. Each of those are only an hour or so and are free

• But if you want to fully learn this at a professional level (going from absolute beginner), then I can’t recommend the ZTM course enough. It’s the only program that goes deep enough that you have the level of expertise to come out of this and get hired.

Either way, I would recommend any of these courses to anyone in tech - even if you’re not thinking of moving into a Prompt Engineering role.

Why?

Simply because generative AI is quickly becoming a tool you can’t skip, and the ones who succeed are the ones who learn to use these tools better than others.

Make sure you make the most of 2026, and make yourself recession proof. Learn the new skills and tools. And make your life and work easier.