My Claude Journey

Welcome to my Claude journey

Claude for the rest of us.

The Power of AI Beyond the Chatbox

I really suck at programming. I barely passed my Fortran class at UCSB. But with Claude, the possibilities are now endless — to build whatever your mind can imagine, directly from the flick of your fingers, for everyone. It is the great democratization wave.

I love to teach. I’m surrounded by a family of teachers. My parents and wife are teachers. I would have been a teacher if it had been fiscally rewarding.

A Claude chat window showing the “Here we go!” welcome screen

So this website is a culmination of both passions — tech and teaching — specifically for the rest of us who are not software developers. You’ll find real stories from my own journey, to either spur your own ideas or open your eyes to the possibilities. I’ve also collected some of my favorite articles written by others who are providing great content on their own journeys.

In my conversations with everyday, non-technical workers, I hear a lot of fear and confusion about hallucinations. I often hear, “Can you really trust AI results?” The answer is yes — and it can make your life infinitely better, both personally and professionally, if you’re willing to explore.

About Me — and Why

Allyn Pon and Val

I’m Allyn Pon. For over 35 years I’ve worked at the intersection of the boardroom and the codebase — a BSEE engineer from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA marketer, building and leading technology and product teams across healthcare, fintech, and enterprise software.

Utilizing Claude these past several months has been a genuinely transformational experience for me — one that opened up possibilities I never thought were available to someone like me. I started this site to share that experience with you, in the hope that everyone reading it can get past their own fear of AI and discover what’s actually possible.

Read my full story →