I write and teach about building software with AI.

I'm Sam Keen. Every week I dig into what's actually working in AI-assisted development and share it in a newsletter. I teach hands-on workshops where developers build real systems with AI tools. I wrote Clean Architecture with Python and was formerly a generative AI architect at AWS.

25+ years building software.

Formerly at

Co-founder, Portland AI Engineers — 1,200+ members

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The newsletter

Every week, I dig into what's actually working in the new AI abstraction layer so you can make informed decisions without drowning in hype.

Monday AI Review

Signal filtering—what matters this week in AI for developers.

Deep Dives & Insights

Tech Explorations & Industry Analysis. Go deeper than the headlines.

What makes it different

Production-informed, not demo magic

Written by someone who shipped code for 25+ years (ex AWS | Lululemon | Nike)

No hype — grounded in hands-on research and experimentation

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Upcoming workshops

Live, hands-on sessions on Maven. You won't just hear about AI tools — you'll use them in real time, building artifacts you take back to work.

Free

Build the CLAUDE.md Your Project Needs

April 23, 2026 — 10:00 AM PT

A 30-minute lightning lesson. Learn the framework for structuring the project context file that makes Claude Code actually understand your codebase.

$299 — Founding Price

Context Engineering for Claude Code

May 12, 2026 — 9:30 AM PT (3 hours)

Build the context layer that turns Claude Code from a suggestion engine into a development partner. CLAUDE.md, skills, hooks, and the maturity ladder — all hands-on.

Enroll on Maven

Browse all offerings on Maven

Recent Engagements

Talks, workshops, and events — see the work.

“Clean Architecture with Python”

Interview on the GOTO Conferences channel about the book and building maintainable software systems.

Observability in AI

Oregon AI Accelerator

Screencast presentation on observability patterns for AI systems in production.

Watch on YouTube

Sam Keen teaching a RAG workshop to a room of developers

Building RAG Applications

Hands-on workshop teaching retrieval-augmented generation patterns with real-world datasets.

Claude Code Hackathon

Community hackathon bringing developers together to build with Claude Code.

View photos

See upcoming workshops on Maven

Sam Keen

I've spent 25+ years building software at companies like Nike, Lululemon, AWS, and a handful of startups. I led the GenAI Innovation Lab at AWS, where I helped teams separate signal from noise in AI adoption.

Now I write and teach full-time about how developers build with AI. Not building AI — building with AI. My newsletter reaches developers every week, and my workshops on Maven give teams hands-on systems for working with tools like Claude Code.

I also co-founded Portland AI Engineers, a community of 1,200+ practitioners exploring practical AI together.

I occasionally take on select consulting engagements for engineering teams navigating AI adoption. Let's talk if that's of interest.