u/PenEquivalent5091

I started learning RAG a little while ago and have built two pipelines. One by following a tutorial and one by experimenting on my own and also tried various methods. Now I know how to pick up new things and implement them, but I’m still not sure what to learn next.

Most of what I find online is just basic chunking and retrieval methods, nothing beyond that. Can anyone please suggest what I should focus on learning and how to figure out the right path?

Also, what kind of projects would be good to build if I want to attract clients?

I've built two RAG pipelines so far: a basic one from a youtube tutorial and a more modular version with some help from claude. While I feel like I fully understand the concepts and the logic behind each component, I still can’t code them from a blank script without a reference or AI assistance.

I'm looking for some advice on my next steps:

Should I stay focused on my current stack and keep rebuilding it until I can do it solo from memory?

Or should I start exploring more advanced techniques (like different retrieval methods, re-ranking, etc.) to keep the momentum going?

Also, I’m curious to hear how did you guys actually learn RAG to the point where you could build a pipeline from scratch?

Thanks for any help!