No-Code and low-code tools and platforms find themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable compromise between casual makers and professional teams. Is no-code a fit for professional use?
No-code is the democratization of code. Smart people (like real developers) have increasingly been able to overlay complex technology with graphical interfaces allowing less smart people (like me) to do more complex stuff than they were supposed to.
This enables businesses to autonomously automate repetitive tasks through Zapier or Make. It allows startups to build a new business using a visual programming language like Bubble.io or WeWeb.io
Kind of yes. Most no-code tools and platforms focus on the digital maker or citizen developer. They target an individual who sees a business problem or market opportunity and sets out to build a solution through no-code. To be used by themselves, within a family, as part of an organization or even as a business. Perhaps even calling it a startup.
It doesn’t mean that the User Interface is great or that the database is structured well for performance. But that is OK. The real problem lies with data security. A lot of users are not able to protect the data of their users or their company. This is a serious concern.
Yet, it still proves that the democratization of code is real. And that is a great achievement for platforms like Zapier, Make, Bubble, WeWeb and others.
People before had to either fight an uphill battle learning code or hire a very expensive full-code firm to build what they had in mind (with all the risks in case of failure). They are now able to build what they need on their own.
Teams and businesses growing their operations (or part of) on no-code or low-code all run into the same two issues at some point:
How do we scale technically?
How do we scale operationally?
You can do a lot with no-code and low-code but at some point you reach the limitations of what is natively possible in a visual programming language. While you can build on top of a platform like Bubble as much as you want like connecting external databases, implementing external server-less functions for complex flows, building algorithms through machine learning, creating 3D, AR and VR experiences or connecting to web3, there is a limit.
Once your product requires more custom code to run than low-code, you should consider moving into a full-code stack. There is little benefit to using a low-code base if you run so much custom code.
An even bigger problem with no-code has nothing to do with its technical capabilities. It has to do with people.
No-code is primarily developed for individual use, remember? This means that teams quickly run into operational and logistical boundaries. They are also limited in their knowledge of structuring and scaling a team.
Most no-code tools do not offer a proper documentation solution. They offer no or very limited version control, lack multiple development environments and processes to help no-code developers collaborate effectively on projects. No-code tools and platforms expect their product being used by a one-man band. On top of that, most no-coders are not trained to use these practices.
So, successful no-code based businesses now increasingly hire full-code specialists and adopt full-code approaches to scaling their operations.
The low-code community is increasingly introducing new tools and services to help teams do no-code professionally. But this is something that ultimately needs to be supported and even developed by the tools and platforms themselves.
As the first wave of no-coders become more professional, they demand more professional features from the tools and platforms they use. This forces these platforms in an uneasy split. On one side the promise of non-techies being able to build an app. On the other, becoming a serious alternative to full-code software stacks facilitating proper versioning, documentation and collaboration.
Yes, you can use no-code and low-code professionally. There are many great examples of successful businesses running on low-code (like prello.co and here.co). There are a lot, and increasingly more benefits over full-code. But these businesses also struggle with the issues mentioned, like many businesses struggling with a lot of things.
It is exactly these businesses and these people that push to make no-code more professional. The question is, which platforms are ready to take the risk and pick a side between casual builders and professional users. Or will they find a way to make these two users co-exist?
Book a call with us today and see your working prototype live next week. Try us.
Get started