TRYINGTHINGS#03: Defend yourself against the robots
On gaining the technical skills to take on both men in gilets AND superhuman tech (2015 - 2025)
Do you remember 2015? It was the year of that stupid dress. Zayn Malik left 1D. Jeremy Clarkson left Top Gear. The worst people you knew wheeled themselves around the city on hoverboards. Snapchat filters launched. I bought a rose gold iPhone.
Not everyone found the Snapchat filters as funny as me
The possibilities were endless. Tech was fun and funny. We did conference calls that didn’t require a camera and a curated backdrop, you could dial in from the pub, or your bed, or your bed after the pub. Your aunty didn’t know what a ring light was.
It was also the year that International Supermodel Karlie Kloss launched her alliterative coding academy for teen girls, Kode with Klossy.
What the heck Karlie, you beautiful talented woman
It’s important to note here that I don’t work in tech, I’ve never worked in tech and I probably never will. I do have two incredibly techy siblings and I think that gave me a false sense of my capabilities (omg I think I just understood nepo babies).
Despite the obvious futility of gaining these skills (no side hustles here, no thanks), I signed up for an evening class at General Assembly, a tech training school. My class was specifically on HTML and CSS and provided an ‘introduction to coding’. Most people wore black, and the use of hoodies was widespread. I was intimidated.
We learnt the basics. I can barely remember them, it was ten years ago. It was harder than it looked, and I was somewhere close to the bottom of the class. One wrong step and you could screw the whole thing up! It felt like very high pressure for another one of my silly little hobbies. But look what we made!
Nice instagram filter on that photo of your laptop, past Damaris.
In 2025, there were no supermodels involved in my decision-making for the next tech-based pastime, more a combination of news, podcasts, the impending robot takeover and those guys you meet at parties who say things like ‘it’s not even about AI any more, let me tell you about quantum computing’. (You must say that sentence in an incredibly smug voice and imagine that you’re wearing a gilet).
A decade on, my coding equivalent has been a wide range of online tech courses, from AI prompting to data science. I’ve used Coursera and Code Academy, and whilst I do feel like I’m trespassing (on Karlie Kloss’ turf?), they’re very accessible and almost impossible to fail, which is not necessarily the sign of a great educational resource. None of them have been in person, partly on the basis that all the in-person ones ask a lot of questions about which career path you plan to follow with your new skills (no side hustles, no thanks).
Most of what I’ve learnt has been pointless, natch. Although learning how to prompt AI well makes you feel smart and powerful, as if an unknown being has just provided all the answers for you with minimal effort (it has), and that is probably the only one I would recommend to general luddites like me.
Thus far, I have put my AI skills to good use by designing an excellent 6th birthday party invitation for a joint Mermaid and Hot Wheels birthday party featuring an underwater Hot Wheels track. Feedback from the six-year-olds has been life-affirming.
Where is THE HIGH? In 2015 when I typed a little code and made my silly website go green it felt really good. In 2025, it was when I was able to respond to the gilet guy who said ‘oh yeah but quantum computing is the thing now, let me tell you all about it’ (don’t test me). I miss 2015.
Physical fitness? It’s a finger-based activity.
Sense of satisfaction? The general sense of being left behind sustains.
Long-term commitment? I would just wait for them to offer a new chip for your brain.
I did a General Assembly class ten years ago, in person in Melbourne. I reckon they’ve updated their courses by now. If they haven’t, I really can’t recommend them.
Apart from that, Coursera have a load of great courses (read the reviews on each one), as do Code Academy.