The Short Version
BuildingWithAI Academy is a collection of free courses and resources for people who don't think of themselves as developers—but want to use AI tools to build things that actually work.
It's built by an instructional designer who spent 18 months "vibe-coding" before discovering there's a better way.
The Longer Version
I've been an instructional designer for years. I know how to structure learning, write clear instructions, and break complex topics into manageable pieces. What I didn't know was how to code.
Then AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT came along, and suddenly I could describe what I wanted and get working code back. It felt like magic. I built e-learning interactions, small utilities, even a few web apps—all by prompting AI and tweaking the results.
"Vibe-coding" is what some people call this approach: you describe what you want, the AI builds it, and you iterate until it works. It's powerful—but it has limits.
The problem? My results were inconsistent. Some projects came together beautifully. Others spiraled into frustrating loops of fixes that broke other things. I couldn't reliably build what I wanted, and I didn't understand why.
That's when I discovered "compound engineering"—an approach where you plan before building, document what you learn, and create context that makes each session smarter than the last. The difference was immediate.
Why I Built This
I built BuildingWithAI Academy because I couldn't find the resource I needed when I was starting out:
- Developer tutorials assumed too much background knowledge
- AI prompting guides focused on chat, not building
- Nobody was talking about the terminal-to-project workflow for non-developers
So I'm creating it myself—documenting what I learn as I learn it, structured the way an instructional designer would structure it.
What This Is (and Isn't)
Practical
Everything connects to building real things
Honest
Learning in public, mistakes included
Free
No paywalls, no accounts required
Evolving
Gets better as I learn more
This isn't a comprehensive computer science education. It's not going to make you a software engineer. It's a practical path from "I have an idea" to "I built it and it works"—using AI as your collaborator.
Who This Is For
You'll get the most out of this if you:
- Have ideas for tools or apps you wish existed
- Already know how to write clear instructions (instructional designers, technical writers, content creators)
- Are curious about AI-assisted building but intimidated by "real" programming
- Want a more intentional approach than copy-paste prompting
Ready to Start?
The Claude Code Fundamentals course takes you from terminal basics to shipping your first project.
Start Learning