[Intel] AI For Future Workforce (1st Week)

6-Month Intensive Bootcamp to Pivot from HR to AI Developer

[Intel] AI For Future Workforce (1st Week)

6-Month Intensive Bootcamp to Pivot from HR to AI Developer

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have officially enrolled in the Intel AI Developer Training Program.

They said that with enough passion, even non-majors could keep up. I poured that passion into my interview, and thankfully, I was accepted.

The journey began on November 10, 2025, and will run until May 20, 2026. It is an incredibly tight and intense schedule. In just six months, we are expected to master Python, Java, and Kotlin, learn AI project methodologies, and complete four actual projects.

When I showed this curriculum to my younger sister (an Android app developer) and my father (a 30-year IT veteran), they both looked skeptical. “Is this even possible in 6 months?” Even my friends who had switched from non-tech majors to developer warned me that this schedule looked brutal.

Wow… All that in 6 month??

https://intel-edu.kr/curriculum-details / curriculums

You might be thinking the same thing reading this. But honestly? Their concern only fueled my fire. I wanted to prove them wrong — and more importantly, prove to myself that I could overcome this challenge.

On Day 1 (Nov 10), we started with introductions. We were split into teams and used AI tools to create team names and introduce ourselves.

The program runs in two locations: Seoul (21 students) and Suwon (13 students). Since Suwon is closer to my home, I joined the Suwon class.

Listening to the introductions of my 13 classmates, I was shocked by the diversity. We have:

• A Psychology Master’s student (who is also blogging like me!)
• A former mechanic (automotive repair)
• An Architecture major with a background in Data Science
• A former Civil Service exam candidate (Grade 7)
• A former Full-stack Developer
• A fresh High School graduate
• A Pianist
• A Travel Tour Planner
• And me, a former HR Manager from the Game & Hotel industry.

It’s a fascinating mix. Out of the 13 of us, about 7 are complete beginners who, like me, have never touched Python before.

Week 1: The First Step into the AI World

The first week wasn’t just about coding; it was a deep dive into the landscape of AI and how diverse its services have become.

Here is a log of what we covered in our first week:

📅 Day 1 (Nov 10): Orientation & Concepts

• Sovereign AI: Understanding AI sovereignty and Korea’s position.
• Open Source Models: Examples using Meta’s Llama.
• AI & Copyright: The legal gray areas.
• AI Agents & Vibe Coding: Understanding the workflow.
• Language Models: How AI calculates word frequency from massive text data.
• Models: Brief intro to Pose, YOLO, and Skeleton models.

📅 Day 2 (Nov 11): RAG vs. Fine-Tuning

• Presentations: Group presentations on RAG vs. Fine-Tuning and AI in Education.
• Concepts: AGI, Multi-modal AI, and Physical AI.
• Perceptrons: Understanding the math (Input Layer * Weights — Bias = Result).
• Teachable Machine: A practical exercise.
• Infrastructure: Cloud vs. On-Premise.

📅 Day 3 (Nov 12): Models & Learning Types

• Intel’s Goal Setting: The SMART method.
• AI Project Cycle: The 6 stages of development.
• The Equation: Data + Algorithm = Model.
• Learning Types: Supervised, Unsupervised, and Reinforcement Learning.
• Orange3 Practice: Splitting Train Data vs. Test Data to find suitable models.

📅 Day 4 (Nov 13): Python Begins

• Orange3: Advanced image training practice.
• Python (Google Colab): Finally, coding!
• Data types (int, str, bool, float)
• Operators and Indenting
• Input/Return functions

📅 Day 5 (Nov 14): Field Trip

• Visited the Intel Korea office for a special lecture.

The Daily Routine & The Journal

Our schedule is fixed: Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM. The most unique part of the day is the last hour (5 PM — 6 PM). We spend this time writing a “Learning Journal” on Notion.

The Learning Journal /Notion

We have to summarize facts, lessons learned, feelings, and future to-dos. The fun part? We can see each other’s journals.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed and think, “Am I the only one finding this hard?”, I peek at other journals. Seeing that others are struggling with the same concepts is strangely comforting. It reminds me we are in this together.

Also, since there is no fixed format for the writing style, you can really see people’s personalities in their journals. (Maybe this is my HR occupational disease kicking in — analyzing people through their writing. I know I shouldn’t judge, but I can’t help it! 😅)

Hello, World!

The biggest impact of Week 1 was, without a doubt, starting Python.

I typed the words that every developer has typed at least once in their life:

Print("Hello World")

My First-Ever code

With that single line of code, I felt like I officially stepped into this new world. The journey has just begun, and I can’t wait to see where it leads.