Frequently Asked Questions

What is a "production experience" on Prodlake?

A production experience is a video-based lesson where an experienced engineer walks through a real production situation — an incident, architecture decision, debugging journey, or operational challenge. Unlike traditional courses, these focus on the reasoning and judgment behind decisions, not just the technical steps.

How do I access experiences?

You can purchase individual experiences or subscribe for full platform access. Once purchased, experiences remain accessible in your library indefinitely (as long as the content is available on the platform).

Can I get a refund?

Yes. We offer a 14-day refund window on individual purchases if you've watched less than 30% of the content. See our full Refund Policy for details.

Are these real incidents from real companies?

Yes — the knowledge is real, but identifying details are sanitized. Instructors describe genuine production situations using safe representations (often generated via AI Studio) so no confidential data is exposed. The value is in the engineering judgment, which transfers regardless of which specific company experienced it.

What skill level do I need?

Prodlake is designed for professional engineers — typically mid-level and above. You should be comfortable with concepts like distributed systems, observability, CI/CD, and infrastructure basics. Experiences are tagged by domain and complexity to help you find the right level.

How much do I earn?

Instructors receive 70% of net revenue from every learner purchase of their experience. Prodlake retains 30% as a platform fee covering hosting, delivery, payment processing, and operations. Payouts are processed monthly via Stripe Connect with a $50 minimum threshold.

Does it cost anything to publish?

Uploading and publishing video experiences is free. There are no listing fees or upfront costs. AI Studio (for generating teaching assets) is a separate paid tool — but uploading your own video content directly costs nothing.

Who owns the content I publish?

You do. Always. By publishing on Prodlake, you grant us a non-exclusive license to deliver your content to paying learners. You retain full intellectual property rights and can remove your content at any time.

Can I share experiences from my current employer?

You can share production knowledge and engineering judgment, but you must not include proprietary code, NDA-protected material, customer data, credentials, or internal dashboard screenshots. AI Studio helps here — describe the scenario, and it generates a safe representation you can record over. Review our Content Policy for specifics.

What happens during content review?

Every new experience enters a review queue before publication. We check for prohibited content (secrets, credentials, customer data), quality standards (clear audio, coherent narrative), and accurate metadata. Most reviews complete within 48 hours. You receive specific feedback if changes are needed.

What is AI Studio?

AI Studio is a paid tool that generates safe production environment representations from your descriptions. Describe an incident scenario, and it generates investigation timelines, terminal replays, architecture walkthroughs, root cause analysis diagrams, and other teaching assets you can use as backdrops for your video content.

Is AI Studio output the final product learners see?

No. AI Studio output is a creation tool — a backdrop you record over. The final product learners watch is your video, with your narration and expertise. The generated assets give you realistic-looking production environments without exposing real sensitive data.

Do I own what AI Studio generates?

Yes. Assets generated through AI Studio belong to you. They're tools for your content creation — you can use, modify, and publish them as part of your experiences.

Can I publish without using AI Studio?

Absolutely. AI Studio is optional. Many instructors record directly — using their own diagrams, slides, or sanitized screen recordings. AI Studio simply removes the "I can't show my real screen" barrier for those who need it.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Instructor payouts are disbursed via Stripe Connect to the bank account or debit card linked to your Stripe account.

Can I cancel my subscription anytime?

Yes. Both learner platform subscriptions and AI Studio subscriptions can be canceled at any time. You retain access until the end of your current billing period.

Is my data safe?

We use encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access controls, and process payments through PCI-compliant Stripe infrastructure. We never store full credit card numbers. See our Privacy Policy and Trust & Safety page for full details.