No Stupid Questions

AI fundamentals for people who hire people.

Plain-English courses on AI, APIs, the terminal, and MCPs. No CS degree required, no prior coding experience assumed. ~1 hour total, free, updated 2026.

01⏱ ~20 min
🤖AI Basics
How LLMs work — tokens, context, prompts, hallucinations — explained without jargon.
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02⏱ ~20 min
🔌API Basics
How software talks to software. Build your first API call live in the browser.
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03⏱ ~15 min
⌨️Terminal Basics
The missing piece between using AI and building with it. Six commands + Homebrew.
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04⏱ ~25 min
🔗MCP Basics
How AI connects to your tools. Install your first MCP, see what unlocks for recruiting.
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Recruiters and People teams are being asked to "use AI" and "automate things" — but the underlying tech is opaque if you're not an engineer. This series teaches one layer of the stack at a time, in language designed for the person you actually are.

These are the courses I wish existed when I started learning this stuff. Every concept is explained the way I needed it explained — not the way engineers usually explain it. — Dan McCarthy, Sr. Talent Engineer at Zapier

Each course is short, hands-on where it can be, and ends with a knowledge check. They're cross-linked, so you can hop between them as you build a real understanding.

  1. Start with AI Basics if you've used ChatGPT but couldn't explain how it works under the hood.
  2. Then API Basics to understand how every modern tool talks to every other tool.
  3. Then Terminal Basics to stop bouncing out of tutorials the moment they mention the command line.
  4. Then MCP Basics to connect Claude (or any AI) to the tools you actually use.
Dan McCarthy

Dan McCarthy · Sr. Talent Engineer at Zapier

5+ years in recruiting across high-growth companies, now focused on the intersection of AI and talent. This series is part of an ongoing experiment to teach the People function how to actually build with AI — not just talk about it.

I'm also not someone who's spent his whole life dedicated to this discipline. My path's been pretty non-linear — somewhere along the way I've also been an entrepreneur, a certified wine expert, a CrossFit L3 coach, and a jazz vibraphonist. I think that's part of why I teach this stuff the way I do.

Find me on LinkedIn.