Hype or Real? Decoding AI Buzzwords like Loop Engineering

Loop engineering; Compound engineering; Context engineering; Harness engineering... It feels like there's a new AI buzzword every week! But are these actually new concepts, or just marketing spin on things engineers and users of coding agents have always done?In this episode of ragTech, Natasha, Saloni, and Victoria break down the latest wave of AI engineering jargon flooding social media, asking the REAL question: who benefits when we keep renaming the same ideas?We cover:🔁 Loop Engineering: designing feedback loops so an AI agent can test and refine its own output📈 Compound Engineering: building workflows where agents accumulate and reuse knowledge across runs🛡️ Harness Engineering: the guardrails that keep AI agents safely contained🧠 Context Engineering: curating exactly what info an agent needs to perform well🚀 Forward Deploy Engineers: why this role commands a premium (hint: it's not just technical skill)Why gatekeeping terminology can diminish people's confidence — and how to talk about these concepts without making others feel behind!Whether you're a seasoned engineer or just starting to explore AI tooling, this conversation is a reminder: most of these "new" ideas are just familiar patterns wearing new names. Don't let the vocabulary intimidate you; chances are, you're already doing it!