Agentic coding · Coding agents
Citizen AI Developer
Build real software with AI, safely, without becoming a developer
- Estimated time
- about 8 hours to finish the required lessons
- Length
- 8 modules
- Pacing
- self-paced: start any time and go at your own pace
- Level
- Beginner
Build real software with AI, and know how to check it, secure it, and own it.
You can now build real software with AI. Coding agents write, run, and fix code from a plain-language description, which puts a working app for your team within reach even if you've never written code. What the agent can't supply is the judgment around the code: deciding what's worth building, describing it clearly, checking that it works, keeping it safe, and looking after it once people rely on it. This course teaches those ideas in the order you'll need them, in plain language, at your own pace.
What you'll learn
You'll start by seeing what changed, from compilers to coding agents, and which skills still depend on you. Then you'll learn to act as the translation layer between a business need and a working solution: finding use cases worth building, sizing them, and choosing the easiest solution that works, which is often not a build at all. You'll write user stories, acceptance criteria, and a one-page spec an agent can follow. You'll get a plain picture of how an app fits together, including APIs, keys, automations, and MCP. You'll use Git and GitHub as your undo button and your record, guide a coding agent with a rules file, a plan, and small steps, and treat every "done" as a claim to check. Finally, you'll learn the security and data habits that matter most for AI-built apps, what changes when other people depend on your app, and how to plan your first real project.
The course has eight modules:
- You can build real software now
- Find and choose what to build
- Write it down so an agent can build it
- How software fits together
- Build with a coding agent and Git
- Check the work
- Build safely
- Shipping, owning, and your first real project, plus the final exam
Who it's for
This course is for people whose job isn't IT, product, or engineering, in roles like operations, finance, HR, marketing, sales, and administration, who want to do more with AI than experiment. You should be comfortable using an AI chat product for everyday work. You don't need any coding background. If you already build and ship software for a living, much of it will be review.
What you'll need
- A free personal GitHub account
- A free or employer-approved AI chat product that can write code (a coding agent is welcome but not required)
All hands-on work uses made-up data in a private repository on your personal account. Nothing gets deployed, and nothing connects to your company's systems.