The market shifted.
Here's what it means — in numbers.
AI is now a baseline skill. But fewer than 3% of developers highly trust its output — so the real edge isn't using AI, it's knowing when to accept, reject, or refactor what it produces. That's what foundations are for.
See the full breakdown →Curriculum & Learning Path
What you'll learn, and how.
Five modern layers of software, taught through a ten-phase hands-on journey. You'll learn the stack the way working engineers actually use it today — with AI as a partner, pipelines that deploy for you, and infrastructure defined in code.
Part 01
Five layers.
The modern stack, from code to production.
Layer 01
Frontend development
Every website begins with three core building blocks: HTML CSS JavaScript. We teach the basics hands-on, then shift to modern tools like React and Next.js.
These are what today's startups and freelancers use to build fast, responsive apps. We layer in Framer Motion for smooth animations. In 2026 it's about putting pieces together, with AI as a creative partner — not writing every line by hand.
Layer 02
Backend development
If the frontend is what users see, the backend is the engine behind the scenes. You'll build real backends with Node.js + Express.
You'll create APIs — systems that respond to requests like a waiter bringing you what you ask for. When a user signs up or submits a form, the backend handles that logic.
For databases we use Prisma to keep queries clean and readable — building real features like user accounts, blog posts, and message systems.
Layer 03
Cloud & deployment
Once an app is built, it needs to meet the world. You'll learn the AWS core: EC2 for compute, S3 for files, RDS for data, CloudFront for global delivery, and Route 53 for your custom domain.
We also cover deploying to Cloudflare Workers — exactly how this site is served to you right now. Fast, static-first, zero cold starts.
AWS is the industry standard; Cloudflare is the modern-static champion. You'll know both.
Layer 04
AI-first workflow
This is where Brandon Dermody is different. Every working engineer in 2026 ships code with an AI partner at their side — Claude, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot. We teach you how to use them well, not instead of fundamentals, but alongside.
You'll learn to pair with Claude to design features, generate boilerplate, review your own code, write tests, debug runtime errors, and document what you ship. The skill isn't "ask AI to write it for me" — it's knowing what to ask, what to accept, and what to throw away.
By the end, you'll write code faster and ship with more confidence than developers twice your age who learned the old way.
Layer 05
Modern DevOps
Writing code is only half the job. The other half is shipping it reliably — every day, without breaking production.
You'll build CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions: every push runs your tests, every merge deploys automatically. You'll define your infrastructure as code — servers, domains, and services provisioned from a repo instead of clicked through a dashboard.
This is how real engineering teams operate. Learning it early sets you apart from the thousands of self-taught developers who've only ever deployed by hand.
Part 02
Ten phases.
Hands-on milestones, each ending with a project.
Goals
Install your development tools and learn how the internet works behind the scenes — frontends, backends, servers, and all.
Skills
VS Code, Git basics, terminal usage, internet architecture, APIs, domains, cloud basics.
Technologies
VS Code, Git, GitHub, Node.js, AWS intro
Project
Set up your dev environment and launch your first repo on GitHub.