Deep Learning Specialization

DeepLearning.AI advanced self-paced freemium certificate ~60 hours

Free to audit on Coursera; $49/mo for certificate

Prerequisites: Python, linear algebra, basic calculus
models

Andrew Ng’s legendary 5-course deep learning specialization — the gold standard for understanding neural networks from the ground up. Covers neural network foundations, hyperparameter tuning, CNNs, sequence models, and attention mechanisms. This is the theoretical foundation that makes everything else in this knowledge base make sense. Not a short commitment (60+ hours), but if you want to truly understand how LLMs work under the hood, this is the investment.