Learning path
Learning tech jargons: Understand the Technologies better
Plain-language decoders for AI, web, software, data, cloud, security, geospatial, immersive and emerging technology vocabulary.
- Length
- 10 articles · about 70 min
- Level
- Beginner
- Before you start
- None. Read in any order; start with AI basics if you can.
Best for: Managers, founders, students and new team members who nod along in technical meetings
By the end
What you will be able to do
- Follow a technical proposal or project update without a translator
- Place any term on the map: web, software, data, cloud, security, geospatial or immersive
- Spot buzzwords and ask the questions that cut through them
- Know what to ask suppliers about ownership, cost, security and exit
The path
Read in this order
Concept · Beginner · 10 min read
AI basics: the essential terminology, in plain language
Sixty terms you will hear in every AI meeting, explained simply, so that you can ask better questions and spot buzzwords.
You will learn
- Shared vocabulary is the cheapest way to avoid expensive misunderstandings with vendors, teams and leaders.
- AI is the broad field, machine learning is one way of building it, and generative AI and language models are the part most people now meet.
Start here →
Concept · Beginner · 10 min read
How does AI work, and what are the branches of AI?
A plain-language map of how modern AI learns from data, and the main branches, from machine learning and language to vision, robotics and agents.
You will learn
- Most modern AI is a pattern-finding system: it learns from many examples, then applies what it learned to new cases.
- AI is a family of fields, not one technology: machine learning, language, vision, speech, robotics, planning and more.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 6 min read
Web and internet jargon decoded: from IP address to API
What happens when you open a web page, and the plain meaning of DNS, HTTPS, servers, clients, CDNs, APIs and more.
You will learn
- The web is a conversation: a client asks, a server answers, and a long list of helpers makes it fast and safe.
- Most jargon names a part of that conversation: the address, the road, the request, the reply or the packaging.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 6 min read
Software development jargon decoded: repos, builds, releases and sprints
How software is built, tested and delivered, and what the words in a project update actually mean.
You will learn
- Most development jargon describes how a team keeps its work organised, tested and safely released.
- Version control is the memory of a project, and a pipeline is its assembly line.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 6 min read
Data jargon decoded: databases, warehouses, pipelines and dashboards
Where data lives, how it moves and how it becomes a chart, with plain definitions of SQL, ETL, data lakes and more.
You will learn
- Data work follows a path: collect, store, clean, combine, analyse and present.
- A database runs an application. A warehouse supports analysis across many sources.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 6 min read
Cloud and infrastructure jargon decoded: servers, containers and serverless
Where software actually runs, what you are renting when you use the cloud, and the cost and reliability words to watch.
You will learn
- The cloud means renting computing from someone else’s data centres, by the hour or by use.
- IaaS, PaaS and SaaS describe how much of the stack you manage and how much the provider does.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 6 min read
Security and privacy jargon decoded: encryption, authentication and zero trust
The terms behind keeping systems and people’s information safe, and the questions that make a security conversation useful.
You will learn
- Security protects systems from misuse. Privacy protects people’s information. They overlap but are not the same thing.
- Most incidents come from people, passwords and settings, not exotic hacking.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 6 min read
Geospatial jargon decoded: GIS, GNSS, LiDAR, DEM and the rest
The vocabulary of maps, satellites and spatial data, in plain language, with what each term means for a real project.
You will learn
- Geospatial vocabulary names three things: the data, the sensors that capture it and the tools that process it.
- Many terms are acronyms for simple ideas: elevation, positioning, imagery, coordinates.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 7 min read
Immersive tech jargon decoded: XR, passthrough, 6DoF and spatial computing
The terms behind VR, AR and mixed reality headsets and experiences, and what they mean for comfort, cost and what you can build.
You will learn
- XR is an umbrella for VR, AR and MR, and the details that matter are how the device tracks you and how it shows the world.
- Degrees of freedom, field of view and refresh rate decide how natural and comfortable an experience feels.
Read →
Concept · Beginner · 7 min read
Emerging tech jargon decoded: IoT, 5G, blockchain, edge and quantum without the hype
What these headline technologies actually do, where they genuinely help, and how to tell a useful idea from a fashionable label.
You will learn
- Every emerging technology has a real, narrow strength and a hype cloud around it.
- Ask what problem it solves that a simpler tool does not, and what it will cost to run and maintain.
Read →
When you finish
Where to go next
Next path
Adopt AI in your organization
Learn the language and how AI works first, then check your readiness, run one measured pilot and understand the two big building blocks.
6 articles · 46 min
Next path
Back to basics: the maths and science behind GeoAI, 3D and VR
AI can draft the code, the model and the scene. People are still needed to develop, fine-tune and put them in context, and that takes the fundamentals.
10 articles · 66 min
Start a project
Want this applied to your own project?
Learning is the first step. If you would rather have a working system, book a discovery call and we will scope it with you.