I would compare it to when I was taught how to build my own compiler. Taking away the magic was empowering. Later on I saw many opportunities to use the some of the basic compiler techniques, even though I'm not out there writing the JDK.

If you had to pick, building a project using off the shelf tech would better prepare you to work your first AI engineering job. However, the knowledge in these videos could help you land that first job, and is a useful base for concepts that aren't going away any time soon.

Also, please let us know if you figure out the secret. I would love to also switch from generalist backend to ML/AI.