Prompt Engineering

Prompt engineering is the practice of structuring instructions, examples, and context to make LLMs behave consistently. As models improve, the discipline shifts from clever wording to system design — context engineering, eval design, tool definition, agent loop architecture.

The well-tested patterns: be specific about format and constraints, include 2-3 high-quality examples (few-shot), break complex tasks into smaller steps, ask the model to think step-by-step on hard problems, define a system prompt that establishes role and rules.

The term "prompt engineer" as a job title peaked in 2023-2024 and has largely been absorbed into broader software engineering. The skill remains valuable, but it's now table stakes for anyone building with LLMs rather than a specialty.