Recently, I had the pleasure of sharing my journey and insights on the “90 Days of DevOps” YouTube channel as part of Michael Cade’s 2024 version of 90 Days of DevOps, where I discussed my very unconventional and niche side project, Find My Black Pudding. By leveraging Generative AI platforms and large language models, specifically ChatGPT, I’ve been able to Prompt Engineer my way to a working location based search platform based on Python. Have I mentioned how much I believe in Prompt Engineering as an important skill to learn?

This post is a follow up to the session that was published as part of Day 48 and flows on from my more recent posts around Prompt Engineering, I wanted to dive deeper into this topic, focusing on Prompt Engineering and how it can be a catalyst for transforming your side project dreams into reality.

Some tips on Prompt Engineering your way to unexpected places are below, but also the session is embedded below to view. As a side note, if you want to know what Black Pudding is, I explain that in the first five minutes of so… worth a few if not just for that.

The Genesis of Find My Black Pudding the App

It all started with a passion for Black Pudding for me. A traditional delicacy that’s traditionally, surprisingly hard to find outside the UK. This led me to conceive “Find My Black Pudding,” an app designed to locate the nearest black pudding serving based on your location. What initially seemed like a fleeting thought (and just a domain registration) gradually morphed into a tangible project, thanks to the advent of Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT.

The Role of Prompt Engineering

Prompt Engineering is essentially the art of crafting queries and instructions in a way that elicits the most useful and creative responses from AI models. I’ve blogged about it over the last few months, and a lot of the inspirations and experiences gained has been due to this project.

Here’s how I leveraged it:

  1. Idea Articulation: The first step was conveying my app idea clearly and concisely to ChatGPT. This involved describing the app’s purpose, desired functionalities, and the technologies I envisioned using.
  2. Development Guidance: ChatGPT served as a virtual developer, offering architectural overviews, suggesting front-end and back-end technologies, and even providing code snippets to kickstart the development process.
  3. Iterative Feedback Loop: Developing an app isn’t linear. It involves a lot of trial and error, debugging, and refinements. Prompt Engineering allowed me to communicate these iterative changes to ChatGPT, which in turn suggested modifications and improvements.

Tips for Prompt Engineers

If you’re looking to embark on a similar journey, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

  • Be Specific: The more detailed and specific your prompts, the more accurate and helpful the responses will be.
  • Think Like a Developer: Even if you’re not a seasoned programmer, approaching problems with a developer’s mindset helps in crafting effective prompts.
  • Iterate and Refine: Don’t expect perfect answers on the first try. Use the responses as a starting point and refine your prompts based on the outcomes.
  • Embrace the Learning Curve: Prompt Engineering is a skill that improves with practice. The more you interact with the AI, the better you’ll become at extracting valuable insights.

Conclusion

My journey from an idea over black pudding to developing a fully functional and relatively complex app with ChatGPT’s assistance exemplifies the potential of Prompt Engineering. It’s a great example of the technology era we are stepping into with generative AI, where the barriers to bringing ideas to life are not technical expertise but the limits of our imagination and our ability to interact with a platform in a more human like way.

Apart from the obviously acceleration tech like this has on real professionals in the space and the efficiencies if offers, remember, we’re all entrepreneurs at heart, and with tools like ChatGPT, the journey from concept to creation has never been more accessible and achievable.

This is the essence of the art of the possible… keep innovating, keep creating, and if you’re a fan of black pudding or just curious about the project, visit Find My Black Pudding and embark on your quest for the ultimate breakfast delicacy!