---
type: source
title: "\"Prompt Engineering\" is a Bunch of BS - Here's the 5% of it to Learn"
description: "Most prompt engineering is fluff; learn a handful of core techniques in a few hours, then use a simple four-part prompt template and go build."
youtube_id: XIIIXd5VqO0
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIIIXd5VqO0
slug: prompt-engineering-is-a-bunch-of-bs-heres-the-5-of-it-to-learn
published: 2024-08-07
duration: "0:04:47"
recency_rank: 176
raw: "../raw/prompt-engineering-is-a-bunch-of-bs-heres-the-5-of-it-to-learn.md"
tags: [prompt-engineering, effective-prompting, react, reflection, agent-prompting]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

Cole argues that prompt engineering has been massively over-hyped, to the point of people chasing $250k-$300k "prompt engineer" jobs, when in reality only about 5% of it is worth learning. He points to a single free resource, the Prompt Engineering Guide, and recommends studying it for just 3-5 hours rather than sinking dozens or hundreds of hours into mastering every technique and crafting "perfect" prompts.

He names the specific techniques worth knowing: the first six basics (zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought, self-consistency, general knowledge prompting, and prompt chaining), plus two that matter most for building AI agents. Those two are ReAct (reason plus act), the framework agents use to reason about invoking tools and relaying responses, and reflection (self-reflection), where an AI improves its own output. These, he stresses, are the "key" parts, not fluff, and knowing them covers 95-99% of what you'll want to do with AI without resorting to hacks or jailbreaks.

He closes with his own reusable template for more complex prompts: four simple categories, a system prompt (who the agent is, with descriptive adjectives), a goal, a list of things to do, and a list of things not to do. This structure has worked well for the many AI agents he has built, letting him slot in any niche instruction or hallucination-avoidance rule without over-engineering the prompt.

## Concepts covered

- [Prompt Engineering](../concepts/prompt-engineering.md)
- [Effective Prompting](../concepts/effective-prompting.md)
- [Few-Shot Prompting](../concepts/few-shot-prompting.md)
- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting](../concepts/chain-of-thought.md)
- [The Agent Loop (Reason-Act-Observe)](../concepts/agent-loop.md)
- [Self-Correcting Agents](../concepts/self-correction.md)
- [Agent Prompting Techniques](../concepts/agent-prompting.md)

## Entities

- [Cole Medin](../entities/people/cole-medin.md)

## Key moments

- **[0:00:00]** Opens by mocking the obsession with prompt engineering and inflated "prompt engineer" salaries
- **[0:00:28]** Recommends the Prompt Engineering Guide as the single resource; study only 3-5 hours
- **[0:01:24]** Names the six basic techniques worth learning (zero-shot, few-shot, CoT, self-consistency, general knowledge, prompt chaining)
- **[0:01:40]** Highlights ReAct (reason + act) as the framework agents use with tools, plus reflection
- **[0:03:06]** Shares his four-part prompt template: system prompt, goal, things to do, things not to do

## Transcript

[Raw transcript](../raw/prompt-engineering-is-a-bunch-of-bs-heres-the-5-of-it-to-learn.md)
