Agentic Engineering Academy
A selective, hands-on program for students and junior developers who want to build real software with AI tools, the way real engineering teams do it.
20 Jul – 15 Aug | Zagreb | Free to attend
Applications until 12 Jun
4
Weeks of focused, hands-on agentic engineering
50
Hours of instruction, code review, and mentorship
8
Selected participants with direct mentorship
Why we built this
We keep running into the same problem
We’ve been hiring engineers for fourteen years. Lately, we keep seeing the same thing: most developers know how to write good code. Far fewer know how to build with AI.
That gap is costing people real opportunities. So we decided to do something about it.
This is what we built: a four-week program focused on one thing. How you take an idea, build it with AI tools, and ship something that actually runs.
Who this academy is for
This isn’t a course on prompting. You’ll learn how to use AI across the full engineering workflow: from architecture decisions and code generation to code review and QA.
Final year students
This isn’t a learn-to-code program. You need to be past the basics. Comfortable enough to build something, uncomfortable enough to know you need to build better.
Junior developers
By week four, you’ll have shipped a real project. Not a toy project or a demo. Something that runs and that you’d show off in a technical interview.
Not for beginners
You need enough development experience to read the code AI writes, spot hallucinations, and tell good engineering from fast generation. No prior AI knowledge needed, but zero coding experience won’t work here.
Academy timeline
Mondays and Wednesdays, for four weeks. Each week opens with a problem and closes with something you’ve built.
Week 1
Foundations of agentic engineering
A working AI-assisted development environment, configured the way senior engineers actually set it up. Not the defaults.
Week 2
AI-assisted development
Your first complete feature built with AI tools, start to finish. Reviewed by a DECODE engineer the same way they’d review a real PR.
Week 3
Working on a real project
A contribution to an actual DECODE internal project. Not a simulation. You’ll be working in the same codebase as our team.
Week 4
Final presentation and evaluation
By DECODE engineers. They give feedback the way they’d give it to a teammate. Specific, direct, no grade attached.
You won’t just learn it. You’ll build it.
Between sessions, instructors review your work. They’re looking at how you approach the problem, not just whether the answer is right.
- Action over theory – You’re building from day one. No slides, no videos, no “exercises.” Everything you do produces something you can show.
- Feedback that’s actually useful – Not “good job.” Engineers who’ve built this stuff for years are telling you specifically what to fix and why.
- A portfolio to show – One real deliverable in four weeks. Code that ran in a live environment, reviewed by engineers who’ve shipped software for global giants.
Meet the mentors
Everyone teaching here lives and breathes software. They’ve built complex products for some of our biggest clients and they’ll review your work the way a senior colleague would, not the way a professor would.
Matija Šelendić
Senior software engineer
Vladimir Kolbas
Engineering manager
How to apply
Two simple steps. Less than 2 minutes to apply.
Takes two minutes. We ask about your experience, what you’ve built, and necessary data.
If your application looks right, we’ll have a 20 min task sent to you.
Eight spots.
One cohort a year.
Next cohort: 20 Jul – 30 Aug, Zagreb. Applications close 12 Jun.
Still unsure about something?
Check the FAQ below. If you still can’t find what you need, you can reach out to us directly.
You’ll hear from us by June 29. We’ll let you know whether you’re moving forward in the selection process. Check your spam folder if nothing lands in your inbox.
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a short technical screening. A few days before that, we’ll send everything you need to know.
There is no guarantee, but there is a possibility of hiring some of the participants. If you impress us over four weeks, that’s a conversation we’re happy to have.
Yes. The program is open to anyone with the right coding foundation: final-year students, junior developers, or anyone who wants to learn to build software with AI.
You should bring your own laptop. If that’s not possible, we can lend you one for the duration of the academy.
No. The program is in person in Zagreb. The collaboration and mentorship that make it worth doing don’t work remotely.
No. The only thing you need to bring is solid coding experience. We teach the AI tools from scratch, but with the assumption that you can read the code they write.