The Ratchet Shelf
Courses, tools and routes into work that help you make your move, sorted by the move they help with. The ratchet keeps turning, so this shelf does too: every entry is checked each month, and the ones that fall behind come off.
Last checked 12 October 2026. Next check due 12 November 2026. 36 entries.
Just enough AI
A working grasp of AI is now basic literacy, whatever room your work is in. Start with a free course.
Elements of AI (opens in a new tab)
University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn
The best plain-language start: what AI is, what it can and cannot do, and why. No maths needed.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 2 asks you to sort tasks into what AI is good at, bad at and unreliable at. This course gives you enough plain understanding to make those calls yourself, which is why it is the first thing I would hand anyone. HG
AI Fluency: Framework and Foundations (opens in a new tab)
Anthropic Academy
Teaches how to delegate to AI, describe the task, and judge the result. There is also a version written for students.
Why it’s on my shelfIt teaches the first three rungs of the ladder in Chapter 9: brief the tool well, give it the right material and judge what comes back. Judging what comes back is the whole of Room 2. HG
AI Fluency learning path (opens in a new tab)
Microsoft Learn
Practical and free, and useful if your workplace runs on Microsoft 365 and Copilot.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 7 says to stack a new skill on what you already have. If your working day already runs on Microsoft 365, this is the shortest route to adding AI on top of it. HG
Google AI Essentials (opens in a new tab)
Google, on Coursera
Worth it only if you want a recognised certificate for your CV. Do a free course first; the ideas are the same.
Why it’s on my shelfIn Chapter 9 I wrote that anyone who tells a student they must pay to learn this is selling something, and I stand by that. It is here for one reason only: some employers look for a recognised certificate, and this is one they know. HG
Experience AI (opens in a new tab)
Raspberry Pi Foundation with Google DeepMind
Ready-made classroom lessons on AI for ages 11 to 14, with more age groups being added. For teachers.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 8 argues that the answer to AI in schools is better design, not more detection software. These lessons give a teacher a structured way to start that conversation with younger pupils. HG
Calling Bullshit: Data Reasoning in a Digital World (opens in a new tab)
University of Washington
The sharpest course there is on spotting misleading numbers, charts and claims. Recorded in 2017, and more useful than ever now that AI produces convincing nonsense.
Why it’s on my shelfConfidence is a style, not a signal (Chapter 9). This course trains the instinct behind my rule in Chapter 10: never ship a number you have not traced to its source. HG
How to be a critical reader (opens in a new tab)
OpenLearn, The Open University
Reading AI output well is the same skill as reading anything well. This builds it.
Why it’s on my shelfRung 3 of the ladder in Chapter 9 is making the tool check itself, but the final reading is always yours. This builds the slow, careful reading that catches what the machine missed. HG
Harness Room 2
Room 2 work is done by the machine and owned by a person. These tools are worth learning properly, so that you direct them and check them.
Making decisions (opens in a new tab)
OpenLearn, The Open University
Judgement is a decision you can explain. A short, solid course on making and recording them.
Why it’s on my shelfJudgement is deciding what should be done, and in Chapter 5 I ask you to write down one decision a week and revisit it a month later. This course gives that habit some structure, so that each entry teaches you something. HG
Ethics of AI (opens in a new tab)
University of Helsinki
For anyone who will put their name to AI-assisted work: accountability, fairness and transparency, without the jargon.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 12 describes the guardians of the guard rails: the people whose names are on the line when AI fails. If you intend to put your name to AI-assisted work, start here. HG
Make (opens in a new tab)
Make (Celonis)
Visual automation for the Room 1 tasks in your week. Hand them over, then check the output, which is the Room 2 habit.
Why it’s on my shelfRung 5 in Chapter 9 is letting the tool run for you, with one rule that never comes off: nothing goes out until you have looked at it. Start with one weekly chore and keep a log of every time it gets it wrong. HG
Answers only from the sources you give it, with citations. A safer way to study and research with AI.
Why it’s on my shelfRung 2 in Chapter 9 is giving the tool your own material so that it stops guessing. NotebookLM is built around exactly that, and its citations let you check every answer against the source. HG
Perplexity (opens in a new tab)
Perplexity AI
AI search that shows its sources. Click the sources: checking is the skill.
Why it’s on my shelfOne of my rules in Chapter 10 is never to send a document with a citation you have not opened. Perplexity puts the sources in front of you; the value is only there if you open them. HG
The standard AI coding assistant. Use it, then explain every line it wrote before you ship it.
Why it’s on my shelfYou cannot check an answer you could not have produced yourself (Chapter 2). Use Copilot to go faster, never to skip understanding, and be ready to defend every line. HG
Copilot inside Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the tools most employers still run on. Worth it at the student price.
Why it’s on my shelfMy test for paying, in Chapter 9, is simple: only when a tool saves you more than an hour a week. For a student about to join an employer that runs on Word and Excel, this passes the test at the student price. HG
Claude (opens in a new tab)
Anthropic
A general-purpose assistant for writing, analysis and coding. Pick one assistant and learn it properly; this is one strong choice.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 10 says to pick one general assistant and learn it properly. At the time of writing I use Claude for analysis, documents and reports; that is one good choice, not the only one. HG
The most widely used general-purpose assistant. Pick one assistant and learn it properly; this is one strong choice.
Why it’s on my shelfAt the time of writing I use ChatGPT, alongside Gemini, for graphics and creative work (Chapter 10). Learn what each tool does well and give it that. HG
Built into Google's apps, which makes it handy if you already live in Gmail and Docs. Pick one assistant and learn it properly.
Why it’s on my shelfI use Gemini, alongside ChatGPT, for graphics and creative work (Chapter 10). If your days are already spent in Gmail and Docs, it may be the general assistant worth learning deeply. HG
Go deep in Room 3
Room 3 work has a body, a place, a relationship or a liability attached. These are the routes into it, mostly free.
Doit volunteering (opens in a new tab)
Doit Life and the Doit Foundation
Trust is built by turning up. Volunteering gives you a track record, references who saw you work, and a taste of Room 3 work.
Why it’s on my shelfA person who will take a phone call and say ‘yes, I worked with them’ is one of the five signals in Chapter 13 that cannot be generated. Volunteering is the most open way I know to earn those references, at any age. HG
Toastmasters (opens in a new tab)
Toastmasters International
Speaking in a room is still a human edge. Cheap, local and practical.
Why it’s on my shelfIn-person demonstration is one of the five signals in Chapter 13, and trial days and oral defences are becoming common because they show who did the thinking. Practise standing up and thinking aloud before it counts. HG
Paid training into skilled work: trades, care, nursing, engineering. Room 3 holds its price, and you earn while you learn.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 11 explains why Room 3 is getting dearer: fewer people are training while demand rises. An apprenticeship is a recognised route in that no tool can fake, and an apprentice who adds just enough AI can be employing people by twenty-five. HG
Job profiles, a skills check and course search for every stage, including a change of career.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 11 gives three questions for choosing a Room 3 path: is demand growing, is there a recognised route in, and can you build towards owning it? This is where to find the UK answers at any stage, including a change of career at forty-five. HG
Skills for Careers (opens in a new tab)
UK Government
A new government site for exploring routes into work, with pages for parents and teachers. Still in beta.
Why it’s on my shelfIn Chapter 14 I suggest showing parents the Four Rooms rather than arguing about AI: keep their values, question the route. This new site gives parents and teachers a current view of the routes; it stays on watch while it is in beta. HG
NHS Health Careers (opens in a new tab)
NHS England
Hundreds of health roles, many reachable without a degree. Care for people is Room 3 work at its clearest.
Why it’s on my shelfCare for people is Room 3 at its clearest, and Chapter 11 shows health systems short of staff in every region I examined. Many of these roles do not need a degree, and none of them can be done from a data centre. HG
Get Into Teaching (opens in a new tab)
Department for Education
Free one-to-one advice if you are thinking about teaching. A trusted adult in the room is not going anywhere.
Why it’s on my shelfIn Chapter 5 I wrote that a great teacher runs on Trust and Taste, two edges no machine supplies. If you are drawn to teaching, take the free adviser before you decide. HG
Think Care Careers (opens in a new tab)
Skills for Care
What adult social care work is really like, the values it needs, and how to progress in it.
Why it’s on my shelfCare work is Room 3 and the demand is growing, but in Chapter 11 I am honest that much of it is badly underpaid, which is a political failure rather than a market signal. Read this to see the work as it really is before you choose it. HG
Experiment in Room 4
Room 4 is new work nobody has asked for yet. Run small, cheap experiments: build something, publish something, test an idea.
How to check a claim, an image or a voice before you trust it. Verifying what is real is growing into Room 4 work.
Why it’s on my shelfHuman verification, proving that a person, a document or a piece of work is real, is one of the Room 4 jobs I list in Chapter 12. This toolkit is the free starting point for that skill. HG
Design thinking (opens in a new tab)
OpenLearn, The Open University
Taste is knowing why something is good, not just that it works. A free, patient introduction.
Why it’s on my shelfIn Chapter 5 I define taste as preference you can explain. This course gives you a vocabulary for explaining it, which matters more each year as the machine produces ten versions of everything. HG
The design tool most studios use, free while you study. Copy great work to learn why it is great.
Why it’s on my shelfThe Taste exercise in Chapter 5 is to find three excellent pieces of work and three merely fine ones, and say what separates them. In design, this is where you do it: open great work, take it apart and rebuild it. HG
A teacher sets it up and invites the class. Good for posters, slides and short videos in lessons.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 8 asks for projects with real audiences rather than tasks a tool can finish in thirty seconds. Canva lets a class make something real for people outside the room, at no cost to the school. HG
Substack (opens in a new tab)
Substack
The simplest way to build a small public body of work in your own voice. Write monthly for a year.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 13 says a blog with forty posts over two years is a track record and a single brilliant post is not, because time cannot be faked. Substack is the simplest place to start that clock. HG
beehiiv (opens in a new tab)
beehiiv
A newsletter platform with better growth tools than Substack, for when you treat your writing as a small business.
Why it’s on my shelfCommunity building is one of the Room 4 jobs in Chapter 12, and it grows more valuable as the internet fills with generated noise. Move to beehiiv once your writing has readers and you want to run it as a small business. HG
Free hosting for a personal site or a project you built. Shipped work with a link beats a claim on a CV.
Why it’s on my shelfA tool with a hundred users beats a beautiful mockup (Chapter 13). This is free hosting for the thing you built, so your proof is a link rather than a claim. HG
The King's Trust Enterprise programme (opens in a new tab)
The King's Trust
Free workshops and mentoring, and a small grant to test an idea before you bet on it. Exactly the Room 4 move.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 12 asks for tiny experiments, not big bets: the smallest solution, in front of real people, in a weekend. A small grant to test an idea is that same approach with a little money attached. HG
Startup School (opens in a new tab)
Y Combinator
How to go from idea to first users, from people who have done it many times. Free.
Why it’s on my shelfMost people who find a Room 4 business find it on the fourth or fifth try (Chapter 12). These lectures make each try shorter by showing how experienced founders find out whether anyone cares. HG
Lovable (opens in a new tab)
Lovable
Builds a working web app from a plain-English description. The fastest way to test whether anyone wants your idea.
Why it’s on my shelfRung 4 in Chapter 9 is making the tool build something, and Chapter 12 asks for the smallest possible solution in a weekend. Lovable makes that weekend realistic if you cannot code; ask it to explain what it built, so that you own it. HG
Code, an AI agent and hosting in one browser tab. Good for learning to build, and for shipping small tools.
Why it’s on my shelfChapter 9 says to build the first version, then ask the tool to explain every part in plain language so you understand what you now own. Replit keeps the code, the explanation and the running result in one place, which makes that habit easy. HG
What Moved This Month
- 12 October 2026 Added: a note from the author on every entry, saying why it is on the shelf and which chapter of the book explains it.
- 12 October 2026 Watching: GitHub replaced free Copilot Pro for students with a Copilot Student plan in March 2026, with fewer model choices. We are checking whether sign-ups are open.
- 12 October 2026 Watching: free student offers from OpenAI and Google are currently for US students only. Google's UK student offer closed in 2025. We will list them when UK readers can use them.
- 12 October 2026 Not listed: Cursor, because its terms require users to be 18 or over and its free student year closed to new sign-ups in June 2026.
- 12 October 2026 The shelf opened with 36 entries, each checked against its official page.
How We Choose
- A free option first. Paid entries appear only when they are clearly better than the free ones, and we say why.
- Tested, or not listed. Every entry is checked against its official page before it goes on the shelf, and again every month.
- Moves with the times. When a tool falls behind, changes its terms or is overtaken, it comes off, and the change is recorded above.
- Age-appropriate. Readers at school are only shown free entries that their age allows. Several AI assistants require users to be 18 or over, or need a parent’s permission under 18.
- No paid placements. Nobody can pay to be listed. Today no link on this shelf earns us anything. If we ever join a provider’s referral programme, that link will say so beside it, and an entry that earns us nothing will never be dropped for one that does.
Prices and offers change; check the provider’s own page before you sign up. Spotted something out of date? Write to harish@ridingtheratchet.com.