The movement towards low-code and no-code methods of development is nothing short of a game-changer. Here is a brief recap of how it works, what it means for our jobs in the IT ecosystem, and what opportunities you should keep an eye on.
Can you build any application without writing a single line of code?
The answer is yes.
No-code means quite literally that there is no coding involved at all during the entire development process. Instead, you’ll use a UI (user interface) to build your application via drag-and-drop tools.
This UI offers you a visual modeling experience during development: you will be able to visualize how your app is structured every step of the way. This drag-and-drop process works in a manner akin to building with Legos. You will be able to connect many different interlocking pieces. You can connect your application to every tool you might need: Slack, Twitter, or a payment system like Stripe, for example. For no-code, all integrations can be done using a set of drag-and-drop tools.
Low-code development works on almost the exact same premises: everything is built using drag-and-drop UIs. The only difference is that you might need a developer to manually handle integration between the different ‘Lego pieces’ you are working with. It is a matter of passing data from one point to another, and manually coding those bridges where data is exchanged.
One example of low-code development is Not Real Twitter, a faux-Twitter platform that operates just like its namesake. It was built using a drag-and-drop tool called Bubble (a low-code tool). Because Bubble is low code, this means that there is still some integration work to do. But even this work has the option to be done with a set of drag-and-drop tools.
Using a low-code or no-code approach, we will be able build both static and dynamic web applications.
A static web application is a basic webpage that does not change; i.e., it does not retrieve data from a backend. Usually, static web applications are pages on corporate websites that do not need to change in the immediate future, like the ‘about us’ page.
A dynamic web application is a website that can give you data, such as an online newspaper. Based on what is going on in the news, you will receive different data. There is thus interaction between the frontend and backend of a dynamic web application, and you can engage with this website.
Popular tools for building web apps with a low-code or no-code approach include WordPress, Joomla, Wix, and Webflow.
With low-code and no-code tools, you can build mobile apps natively! It is now possible to build a good-looking app with a drag-and-drop UI.
This approach offers extreme potential for enterprise applications. An enterprise app is anything that takes data from your company and builds an app based on that data.
AppSheet is one such platform for building enterprise apps. You simply select the category of app you need, such as a calendar, to-do list, or project tracker, and link it to an Excel sheet. AppSheet spits out a beautiful interface where everyone in the company can add things, and you can monitor all their data in that Excel sheet. Before the rise of no-code, businesses relied solely on developers to do this.
Now you get all the functionality of that app without having to write a single line of code. There are plenty of templates to choose from so you do not have to start from scratch. You can also program the behavior of your enterprise app yourself. If someone interacts with the app in a certain way, e.g., checking an item off the to-do list, that can automatically trigger something else to happen (like noting this info in the Excel sheet).
You can also customize your app. The only limit on functionality is AppSheet’s infrastructure. Developers will be helpful if you want to go beyond this basic skeleton.
It is important to note that AppSheet is a project by Google Cloud. Google is already taking on this no-code approach and positioning itself as a pioneer!
When we say revolution, we mean it.
Imagine that you want to create a company today. The biggest roadblock from the previous era of app development was, I have an idea for an app but no developers. With the low-code and no-code revolution, you will be able to create your app yourself.
The market will explode with new creators. All of us will be able to enter the market as developers, without any training at all.
In terms of web apps, we can create beautifully responsive CMS-driven websites with Webflow. With Webflow the website is not so rigid: the design is able to be assembled, changed, and shifted around with ease. No-code sites are thus extremely fast to create.
The Hackages website is no-code. It was built from scratch by a designer with no coding experience in only five days. All functionality is available without touching a single line of code: to book a training for example, you can enter your information, which we then automatically receive in our database in the backend.
There were three people involved in the whole website design, two designers and a marketer. What took them five days without any code at all would normally take a month with code. This makes sense, because most of the work of creating a website is in the design. That is not what developers should be (or will be) focusing their energy on!
You can build many things yourself without code using the following tools:
It is worth noting the opportunities when you create a complex web app with Zapier and Airtable. Airtable will give you a database on which to build an application. Zapier meanwhile allows you to do integration between potentially any tool. You can set automatic behavior between such tools: for example, if I receive an email with an attachment, copy that attachment to Dropbox and then alert me on Slack that a new file has been added to Dropbox. Developers used to code these kinds of integrations, but thanks to Zapier, you can connect tools in a code-free way.
Other functionalities made possible in a no-code or low-code way are:
The possibilities will only keep expanding. Soon we will be able to build any mobile or web app imaginable without training as a developer. Going forwards, what will that mean for you and your clients?
The low-code no-code revolution is about building tools that make business easier in a different way. In this new era, businesses will not need a developer until they want to scale, and maybe not even then.
We need to consider several questions to comprehend the impact on our IT ecosystem.
Obviously, this greatly changes the needs of your clients, and who you will be scouting to meet those needs.
Clients will no longer need developers to run marketing campaigns, build corporate websites, and extract data. Instead, designers and data analysts will be responsible for this.
With a designer’s three main tools Figma, Sketch, and Adobe HD, a designer will be able to meet almost all a client’s needs!
Clients will still need developers in some capacity, just not in the role they currently occupy today. Developers can build no-code tools and create integration possibilities that do not yet exist. They are artists and need space to think outside the box in this new paradigm. For example, Salesforce is a software company that employs thousands of highly qualified software engineers to develop no-code tools.
Right now, it is a bit too early to tell your client, I’ll find you an amazing developer who knows Webflow, and we’ll have your website ready in two weeks versus a developer’s three months.
If your clients are open-minded towards this idea however, there are many more growth opportunities available to them. The more a company grows, the more complexities will arise, and it will need developers to fix them. Thus, developers will always be needed.
Whenever new technology becomes available, it creates more opportunities for more people. For example, when JavaScript entered the market, many more people became developers than when C+ and Java were the only programming languages in existence. Still more people became developers when Python was released. The more technologies exist, the more the market is extended.
This revolution is in progress now. All kinds of startups and scaleups are using low-code and no-code tools. You can greatly accelerate your clients on the market if you help them shift to a low- or no-code way of development.
At the end of the day, the shift to low-code and no-code should not be scary. From a creator point of view, the opportunities are huge, and as a recruiter, you can be at the forefront! We urge you to read more about it and how you can help your clients into this new reality.
In this webinar and blog recap, we covered the upcoming low-code and no-code revolution, the tools involved, and what it means for both you and your clients.
Until the low-code and no-code revolution arrives at the tech industry’s shores, it is still crucial to have a solid repertoire of tech knowledge. Our one-day or three-day masterclasses will take you to that next level in the recruitment game. Sign up here.
Our next webinar on March 26th is API explained to Technical Recruiters. You will learn what an application programming interface is, does, and what you need to know about it to vet qualified candidates as a recruiter. You can sign up here.
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