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Contributors Guide

Help keep the AI Engineering Roadmap sharp, current, and useful.

The AI Engineering Roadmap is designed to be community-built and continuously improved.

AI evolves fast. Roles change. Tooling changes. A static roadmap becomes outdated. High-quality contributions help reduce noise for learners worldwide and keep the pathway aligned with real engineering standards.

This guide explains who should contribute, what can be contributed, and the quality standards required.

Who Should Contribute​

This roadmap is curated for signal, not volume.

You are a good fit to contribute if you have:

  • 5+ years of relevant industry or research experience
  • The ability to curate open resources responsibly
  • Experience writing clear learning outcomes, exercises, and project specifications
  • Familiarity with real-world AI engineering standards (evaluation, reproducibility, delivery)

Learners and Early-Career Contributors​

Learners are welcome to contribute in limited but valuable ways, including:

  • Reporting broken or outdated links
  • Suggesting improvements to clarity or sequencing
  • Proposing missing topics or gaps in coverage

Implementation-heavy contributions must still meet the quality gates below.

What You Can Contribute​

In Scope​

  • New modules (Core Systems, specialization modules, or exploratory modules)
  • Improvements or restructuring of existing modules
  • Projects and case studies
  • Exercises, rubrics, and evaluation checklists
  • Templates for evaluation and reporting
  • Track improvements and roadmap mapping
  • Translations (when enabled)

Out of Scope​

  • Certification answer keys
  • Internal or private evaluation materials
  • Re-publishing restricted or paid content

Contribution Principles​

Outcome-First

State clearly what the learner can do after completing the contribution.

Proof-First

Every module must produce inspectable proof - exercises, a project, or ideally both.

Role Awareness (Not Role Lock-In)

Most contributions should map to Core Systems or an existing role track. Proposing a new role or specialization is allowed. In that case, clearly explain:

  • Why the role is needed
  • How it differs from existing tracks
  • What entry-level competence looks like for that role

Maintainability

Prefer clean structure and strong modules over long, shallow lists.

Respect Creators

Reference open resources correctly. Do not copy or re-publish restricted content.

Quality Gates (Required)​

Every contribution must satisfy all of the following gates.

Gate A - Credible Authorship​

  • 5+ years of relevant experience or equivalent research background.

Gate B - Open and Reusable Sources​

  • All referenced resources must be free and open.

Gate C - Exercises or Projects Included​

Each module must include:

  • Clear deliverables
  • Acceptance criteria
  • A suggested evaluation approach

Gate D - Evaluation Clarity​

  • A rubric or checklist
  • Common pitfalls and failure cases

If a contribution does not produce proof, it is not complete.

What "Good" Looks Like​

A strong module makes it easy for a learner to:

  • Understand the goal
  • Follow a coherent, curated set of resources
  • Produce outputs that can be inspected
  • Evaluate results correctly
  • Avoid common mistakes

If the learner cannot show evidence, the module has failed.

Submission Template (Required)​

Use the official contributor template: Google Docs template (make a copy) .

Please make a copy and fill it in. Do not reformat the template.

How to Submit Contributions (Current)​

At this stage, contributions are accepted through direct contact or our community channels.

Community (recommended for questions and collaboration):

  • Telegram Community — Join discussions, ask questions, and collaborate with other contributors and learners

Direct contact:

Public access to the roadmap source code and GitHub-based contributions will be enabled later.

Suggested Workflow​

  • Send a short proposal (outcomes, role mapping, resources).
  • Align scope and direction via discussion.
  • Submit a full module using the template.
  • Review by designated maintainers and department heads.
  • Merge and publish with version notes.

Governance​

Final approval is handled by HumbleBeeAI department heads and core maintainers, with academic oversight where relevant.

The goal is consistent standards and a coherent AI engineering pathway.

Licensing​

This roadmap is provided under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Third-party content: owned by original creators under their licenses We reference and curate. We do not claim ownership of external materials.

Message for Learners​

"Just follow the mentors, do not miss the details because the details are the most important"