Lesson 2 of 10 · Fine-Tuning vs Prompting: What to Choose
In this lesson. Format, tone, and tool use with evals.
What you will learn
- Format and tone
- Evals pass
- Default path
Walkthrough
You will list jobs that died from premature fine-tunes. If evals pass with a prompt, you do not fine-tune. This is the default path.
Work through the ideas in order. After each point, pause and connect it to a task you already do — a document, a workflow, or a feature you own. The goal of Fine-Tuning vs Prompting: What to Choose is usable skill, not a pile of notes.
If something is unclear, rewrite it in your own words before you continue. Teaching the step back to yourself is the fastest way to see gaps.
Practice
Take one job and argue in writing why prompting should be tried first.
Keep the first attempt small. A finished example you can reuse beats a perfect plan you never run.
Check your understanding
- Can you explain the goal of this lesson in one sentence to a teammate?
- Where would you apply “Format and tone” in your own work this week?
- What would you change on a second pass of the practice?
Next. Continue to the following lesson when the practice has a real artifact, even a rough one.