5 Ways to Begin at Prompt Engineering

As a writer and a generalist my interest in AI has skyrocketed. I am right now studying to become a prompt engineer and the main information that I can get is 100% online. Of course there are some books, but this profession is so new that it is very difficult to get information on this subject. As a newbie at this and with the research that  I have found, I propose to you 5 ways to begin prompt engineering.

1.      It helps if you like to write.

Writing is one of the ways we communicate with others. Right now, it is one of the most effective ways to communicate with a GPT like ChatGPT4o. The better and more detailed the question, the more precise answer you will get. One of the main jobs of a prompt engineer is to write great prompts for his employer based on the necessities of that specific business. The more you like to write the easier it would be to obtain a great answer that will impress your employer and help them achieve their goals with generative AI. Having experience in different types of jobs and work scenarios will also help you to write better prompts for the job that you are assign to complete.

2.      Understand AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

This is where the hard part starts. You need to know about AI and how to communicate effectively with it. You need to master key concepts like, machine learning, neural networks, data preprocessing, tokenization, and embeddings. You can find out more about these concepts online and this will help you improve yourself and gain greater knowledge about prompt engineering to help others.

3.      Prompt crafting and optimization.

Creating a great prompt needs some trial and error, that means you must practice with a purpose. Some strategies that will help you on your journey are:

• Clarity and Precision: the clearer and precise you are on your question; the better answer you will get from the GPT you are asking.
• Contextual relevance: you must ask questions that are in context and are relevant to what you are trying to obtain from the GPT.
• Iterative Testing: You need to try several prompts and follow up prompts until you get the most precise answer from the GPT you are asking. Don’t be content with the first answer you get. But I have to say that I have been testing out ChatGPT4o and it is getting more and more precise with very simple prompts.
• Prompt templates: Save what works for you, so you can reuse it in the future or adapt it to another scenario or information that you are looking for.

4.      Be a permanent student.

You can never stop learning about this subject. I’m just starting out, but I am always looking for information on this subject and try to dedicate at least one hour of my working day to learning about the subject of prompt engineering. Some resources that you can use are the following:

• Open AI playground resources application.
• Open AI best practices prompt engineering with Open AI API.
• Learnprompting.org
• GitHub prompt engineering guide.
• Join Discord communities on AI.

5.      Build and showcase a portfolio.

Even though I’m new at this I try to document as much as possible my work in this new field. Whatever you are doing try to showcase it and have it available for potential customers or employers. Remember that they are also new to this, so if you know more about this subject than they do, you have an advantage. You can do the following to enhance your work until you become proficient in this subject:

• Document your work.
• Use Case Studies.
• GitHub Repository.
• Personal Website.

These are only five things that I do to get better at prompt engineering. I hope this helps you on your journey and please don’t be shy, reach out and comment about your progress. As current or future colleagues we need all the help we can get.