Earned my certificate today for the AI Agents in TypeScript/Javascript specialization from Vanderbilt University on Coursera — a 3-course program covering the foundations of building production-ready AI agents.

The specialization spanned agent architecture and goal-driven behavior in TypeScript/JavaScript, prompt engineering for ChatGPT, and software engineering with AI agents using Claude Code. What I found most valuable was the emphasis on building from first principles — understanding the mechanics of memory management, action execution, and environment interaction well enough to work across any LLM platform, not just one framework.

It’s a useful shift in perspective: from using AI tools to architecting systems around them.