{
 "schema": "aiblocks-page/1",
 "id": "technical-topic-deep-dive",
 "type": "skill",
 "name": "Technical topic learning coach",
 "summary": "Practice a technical topic you know a little about. Your AI guides you through how it works, its tradeoffs and failure cases, then you explain it back.",
 "headline": "Technical topic learning coach",
 "subhead": "Choose a technical topic whose basics you already know. It checks your starting point, then explores how it works, tradeoffs and failure cases. You explain each step back and finish with a short account of the idea in your own words.",
 "job": {
  "id": "study-and-practice",
  "name": "Study and check your understanding"
 },
 "level": "beginner",
 "thinking": "medium",
 "tested": true,
 "updated": "2026-10-28",
 "first_published": "2026-10-25",
 "inputs": [
  {
   "type": "question",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Question",
   "what": "the problem, decision or piece of work you want help with, and what a good outcome looks like"
  }
 ],
 "outputs": [
  {
   "type": "document",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Document",
   "what": "a finished document, such as a Word file, a PDF or a page of notes"
  },
  {
   "type": "plan",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Plan",
   "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step"
  }
 ],
 "you_give": [
  "A technical topic and what you already understand.",
  "The interview, design choice or bug that makes it useful."
 ],
 "you_get": [
  "A guided path from the basics to real failure cases.",
  "Questions and worked traces at your current level.",
  "A final explain-it-back task."
 ],
 "use_when": [],
 "skip_when": [
  "You are new to the topic and need the basics first: ask your AI to teach it from scratch, step by step, before you try this.",
  "You need to fix a bug or build something right now: work through it with your AI directly, then come back to study the idea.",
  "You hold a wrong idea about the topic: ask your AI to check and correct that idea first, then start this."
 ],
 "output_sample": {
  "input": [
   "The technical topic you want to go deeper on",
   "What you already understand about it",
   "Why you need it, such as an interview, a design choice or a bug (optional)",
   "Questions or gaps you already know about (optional)"
  ],
  "output": [
   {
    "name": "Context",
    "contains": "The topic, the step you start from and the reason you are studying it."
   },
   {
    "name": "Depth ladder progress",
    "contains": "Which of the five steps you have finished and which one comes next."
   },
   {
    "name": "Current step exploration",
    "contains": "A worked trace, a tradeoff case or edge cases at your level, depending on the step."
   },
   {
    "name": "Checkpoint question",
    "contains": "One question you must answer before moving up to the next step."
   },
   {
    "name": "Exit synthesis prompt",
    "contains": "A request to write one paragraph explaining the idea to someone who just learned the basics."
   }
  ]
 },
 "how_to_use": [
  "Open Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini and paste in the skill text. No code, files or paid tools are needed.",
  "Tell your AI the topic, what you already know and why you need it.",
  "Answer the first check question. Your AI skips any steps you can already do. Expect about one page per step, with one worked trace and one checkpoint question.",
  "Answer each checkpoint in your own words before moving on. Explain the worked trace back, give your own tradeoff view and name edge cases yourself.",
  "Finish by writing one paragraph that explains the idea to a beginner.",
  "Next, keep the paragraph as a study note, or ask your AI for a practice question on the same topic. To test yourself in a mock interview, use the technical interview practice."
 ],
 "checks": [],
 "next": [
  {
   "name": "Technical interview coach",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-interview-practice",
   "why": "Technical interview coach"
  },
  {
   "name": "Retrieval quiz writer",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/retrieval-quiz-writer",
   "why": "Retrieval quiz writer"
  }
 ],
 "source": {
  "by": "edu-agent-skills contributors",
  "repo": "yugash007/edu-agent-skills",
  "url": "https://github.com/yugash007/edu-agent-skills/tree/e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee/skills/teaching/deep-dive",
  "licence": "MIT",
  "original_name": "deep-dive",
  "commit": "e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee"
 },
 "credits": [
  {
   "title": "deep-dive skill",
   "by": "edu-agent-skills contributors",
   "url": "https://github.com/yugash007/edu-agent-skills/tree/e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee/skills/teaching/deep-dive",
   "used": "Copied under the MIT licence. We gave it a plain name. We added Before you start and After this sections that link to other AI Blocks steps."
  }
 ],
 "files": [
  "examples.md",
  "LICENSE",
  "README.md"
 ],
 "links": {
  "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-deep-dive",
  "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-deep-dive.md",
  "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-deep-dive.json",
  "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-deep-dive/SKILL.md",
  "download": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-deep-dive.zip",
  "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/technical-topic-deep-dive",
  "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/skill/technical-topic-deep-dive",
  "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp"
 }
}