There has been a lot of buzz about no-code development over the last few years. Is no-code the way of the future? Will software developers become obsolete due to these tools that make application production easier?* As an early-career software developer I decided to try out no-code and see what it’s all about.
Simply put, no-code is making software applications without writing any code. Instead of using a text editor or an IDE, no-code creators use website creators, drag and drop tools and other WYSIWYG tools.
<aside> 💡 No-code development platforms (NCDPs) allow programmers and non-programmers to create application software through graphical user interfaces and configuration instead of traditional computer programming.
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In other words, developers have written tools that enable non-developers to make their software applications. This sounds like a win-win. The more tools available to enable people to make their vision into a reality, the better. Is it too good to be true? I want to learn more.
100 days of no-code is just what it sounds like. Every day students get an email from Max, the 100 Days of No-Code founder, which has an exercise to complete in 30 minutes or less. This organization also offers a bootcamp for people looking to dive in to no-code rather than just dip their toe in like me.
Phase 1, the first two weeks of the no-code curriculum, is a fast-paced overview on a lot of no-code tools. Each of these days ends with the user having something to show for their efforts. It starts with students making a website in minutes with mmm. My site reminded me of something that might have existed in the MySpace years, but the exercise quickly showed what one could do in a very short time.
Over these two weeks students make a database to track their progress, a form to input their daily task, and automate an image to add to each entry. Students learn how to build a voice assistant, make a wireframe, create step-by-step tutorials, as well as desktop and mobile apps.
It was a whirlwind couple of weeks. It was exciting to be introduced to so many cool tools and envision what I could use them for. I found myself wishing I had more time to dig in to these tools but before I knew it, we had reached build weekend.
After the fast-paced introduction, students are tasked with building something with no-code over a weekend. Note that this is not a 30 minutes or under task. For build weekend students are encouraged to spend as much time as they wanted on the project. I wasn’t able to dedicate much time on this project as it was a weekend and I had other obligations. Still, I went into Friday afternoon having no idea what to build and finished the weekend out by making a mood tracking app.
This weekend made me recognize that one can complete a lot with no-code in a very short period, but it also made me see the challenges of working with no-code as a developer. Working so quickly and without having in-depth knowledge of the tools led me to create an app for just me - literally. I didn’t have the time to think about how I wanted to set up my database schema and after some trial and a lot of error I made a very simple relational database that worked, but not well.
My biggest complaint about the first two weeks of no-code was that I didn’t really get a deep understanding any of the tools that we used. Thirty minutes is not a lot of time and while I could have done more digging in my personal time, it turns out that I wouldn’t have to. Phase 2 is a deeper dive into each of the tools that were introduced over the previous weeks.
Each no-code tool has 3 full days dedicated to a deeper dive.
In just over 2 weeks, I built a relational database, an automation to send uploads from Google Drive to Notion, a daily check-in app, an online bookstore, and published a website. While I completed each of these tasks, I would have liked a bit more structure in this phase. None of the mini-projects related to one another. It would have been neat to build these projects in isolation, but be able to combine them into something larger.
