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I had a lot of the same opinions, and then I actually got a job at a low-code platform vendor. The biggest thing I learned, the secret truth, is that "low-code

I had a lot of the same opinions, and then I actually got a job at a low-code platform vendor. The biggest thing I learned, the secret truth, is that "low-code" is intended to be a force multiplier for "real programmers". Low-code dev shops look exactly like every "real" shop I've seen: source control, sprints, Jira, "omg feature creep" meetings, insane stakeholders, the works. "low-code" developers are "real" software developers. They are developing software that is intended to be used at scale by real people to perform a business task that produces value. This stuff is deployed at "real" companies. I'd wager any sum you're using products and services every day that are connected to one of these platforms. (I'm talking, are you an American who goes to the doctor, goes to any national retail chain, buys products and services from large online vendors, etc) It's a complicated and weird industry but it's been incredibly eye-opening.

slantyyz 8y ago
You're totally right. Most vertical market solutions were started by advanced end users trying to solve their own day-to-day problems. Chances are they couldn't afford to hire a team of developers to build them a custom solution, so they cobbled one together themselves. Other people in their field see what they're doing, get excited, and a lightbulb goes off - "I can make a business out of this!". Eventually it gets to the point where those solutions need to start following the rigors of a proper dev shop, but in the early days, it's more often than not the "low code" dev that you're talking about.
tonyedgecombe 8y ago
Yes, I consulted on such a product for a few years, all the people doing the successful projects with it were programmers. The tool was very productive in it's domain.
michaelper22 8y ago
I did QA for a Pega BPM project at a regulated company, working with an off-site (though on-shore) Pega consulting firm. Aside from the usual big-co version of "agile", and that this was a legacy rewrite, the process was more or less the same as regular C#/Java development. Funny thing with Pega is once you break out of the normal BPM-style flow, you'll write almost as much code as an all-code platform, just cookie-cuttered into form fields.

slantyyz 8y ago

You're totally right. Most vertical market solutions were started by advanced end users trying to solve their own day-to-day problems. Chances are they couldn't afford to hire a team of developers to build them a custom solution, so they cobbled one together themselves. Other people in their field see what they're doing, get excited, and a lightbulb goes off - "I can make a business out of this!". Eventually it gets to the point where those solutions need to start following the rigors of a proper dev shop, but in the early days, it's more often than not the "low code" dev that you're talking about.

tonyedgecombe 8y ago

Yes, I consulted on such a product for a few years, all the people doing the successful projects with it were programmers. The tool was very productive in it's domain.

michaelper22 8y ago

I did QA for a Pega BPM project at a regulated company, working with an off-site (though on-shore) Pega consulting firm. Aside from the usual big-co version of "agile", and that this was a legacy rewrite, the process was more or less the same as regular C#/Java development. Funny thing with Pega is once you break out of the normal BPM-style flow, you'll write almost as much code as an all-code platform, just cookie-cuttered into form fields.