6 Steps to Build a Resume Project That Lands an AI Engineering Job

Bashiri Smith · Facebook reel · 2026-09-24 · 2:47 · 3,143 views · Open on Facebook

Topics: Portfolio Projects, Resume, Job Search & Interviews, AI System Design & Architecture · Level: beginner

Summary

Bashiri Smith lays out a six-step framework for building portfolio projects that get you hired as an engineer in 2026. You start from the companies you want to work for, research the problems they are hiring to solve, and pick one real problem to study in depth. Then you design and build a focused solution with deliberate choices about model, infrastructure, reliability, cost and evaluation, and launch it publicly with a clean repo, a demo and a write-up.

Key points

• Step 1, Targeting: rank what you want (pay, impact, company brand, stability, culture, personal mission). Choose a target profile (industry, company stage, relationship to AI), list 10–100 real companies, then filter to the ones where your background fits.
• Step 2, Market research: track jobs in Google Sheets or Excel. Add columns for basic info, common job-description themes, news articles, open-source work or engineering blogs, and tech stack.
• Build a 'silent network': connect on LinkedIn with people on your target teams before you apply.
• Step 3, Problem selection: check that the problem is real and specific, shared across many target companies, buildable in 1–2 months, a way to show domain depth, and interesting to you.
• Step 4, Research camp: spend 1–2 weeks learning what the problem is, why it exists and how to solve it. Ask your LinkedIn connections in-depth questions, then write a research brief.
• Step 5, Design and build: map the system and decide whether you need AI at all. Don't force RAG or agents into it. If you do use AI, focus on 1–2 core AI patterns, be ready to justify your model and infrastructure choices, and plan for design, reliability, cost and evaluation.
• Step 6, Launch: ship a clean repo, an understandable README and a live demo video. Write a Medium or blog post about the story and your architecture decisions, post on LinkedIn, Reddit and other communities, and use the project in your CV, emails and follow-ups.

Resources mentioned

• BASWE.Ai Engineer (Skool community) · community · skool.com · paid
  The creator's paid community and program, with an AI learning roadmap (including the full ops and evaluation track), daily calls with engineers and recruiters, resume and portfolio help, and a job-search pipeline.
  Also in: Basic RAG Pipeline in 60 Seconds: From Documents to Grounded Answers (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), Pointer to Bashiri Smith's Complete AI Engineer Roadmap for 2026 (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), Step-by-Step Roadmap to a $200K+ AI Engineering Role (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), How to Evaluate a RAG Pipeline: Retrieval vs. Generation (Interview Answer) (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes) and 76 more
• Google Sheets · tool · google.com · free · recommended by both Bashiri Smith & Melvin Vivas
  Google's online spreadsheet app, used here as the place where the agent stores its results.
  Also in: Organizing Grok Bot Lead Collection in One Google Sheet (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Morning digest from a chief-of-staff agent (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Using a Grok Bot to Automate LinkedIn and Collect Leads (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)
• Microsoft Excel · tool · microsoft.com · paid
  Spreadsheet app you can use instead of Google Sheets for the job tracker.
• LinkedIn · website · linkedin.com · free
  Professional network, used here to find warm-lead connections and the names of contacts for cold outreach.
  Also in: Step-by-Step Roadmap to a $200K+ AI Engineering Role (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 7 Habits to Become an AI Engineer: Books, Tooling, Research & Shipping (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), 6-Step Framework for Building AI Projects Target Companies Care About (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), Beat the Hiring "Signal Problem": Referrals, Targeting, and Volume (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes) and 3 more
• Medium · website · medium.com · free · open in a browser to verify
  Blogging platform for writing up your project story and architecture decisions.
• Reddit · community · reddit.com · free
  Online forums where you can share your finished project.

Try this

• Rank your job priorities: compensation, impact, brand, stability, culture and mission.
• Define a target profile (industry, company stage, relationship to AI) and list 10–100 real companies.
• Filter that list to the companies where your experience and background fit.
• Set up a job tracker in Google Sheets or Excel with columns for job-description themes, news, open-source work or engineering blogs, and tech stack.
• Connect on LinkedIn with people on your target teams before you apply.
• Score candidate problems: real and specific, shared across companies, buildable in 1–2 months, shows domain depth, interests you.
• Do a 1–2 week research camp, interview your connections, and write a research brief.
• Map the system and decide whether AI is needed; if it is, limit it to 1–2 core AI patterns.
• Document your reasons for the model and infrastructure, and plan for reliability, cost and evaluation.
• Launch with a clean repo, a clear README, a live demo video and a blog post, then share it on LinkedIn, Reddit, and in your CV and follow-ups.
• Build a 1–2 month project that solves one real problem shared across many of your target companies, chosen from their job postings, engineering blogs and conversations with their engineers.