I started developing iOS applications in 2008, and by 2010, platforms for creating cross-platform apps were already emerging with the rallying cry of "a single codebase for Apple and Android."
Initially overlooked for applications that utilized the specific physical resources of Apple or Android devices, they were well-suited to more straightforward products featuring an interface and a local database.
Over the years, native frameworks (Xcode and Android Studio 2, more so than Eclipse) have become firmly established, and the parent companies have imposed procedures and guidelines on developers for getting their apps published.
We have also moved through the eras of Clean Code and the Agile Manifesto, which established standards regarding the quality of the software produced and the methods used to create it. Consequently, we can now say that development has reached a level of maturity and standardization that makes the code required to build a specific function—or an entire section of an application or website—predictable.
Black box, modules, and automation
This is where "no-code" platforms enter the market—environments for creating mobile and desktop applications where you build what you want by connecting pre-made modules, just like playing with building blocks as a child.
Do you need a user login phase? No problem: there is a login form—paired with the registration form—that you can simply drag onto the canvas with a single click. You can also decide which account types (Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.) to allow access for, without having to create additional ones.
Of course, to develop and maintain your applications, you will have to pay a fee to the portal operator—a fee that increases based on the number of applications and users with access to them. That is scalability.
In any case, this represents an opportunity—both for non-programmers wishing to try their hand at creating applications and for those looking to accelerate the development of new products for clients.
An unproductive world of intermediation, where you are the product.
There is a limitation here, the same one I encounter when using a music streaming platform instead of listening to my CDs. The same applies to TV streaming versus DVDs and old VHS tapes, or e-commerce compared to the local shop: you stop acquiring an asset and become a mere consumer, entirely dependent on the service provider who then monetizes your tracked habits.
However, the evolution to consider is the one linked to AI: today, you are the one dragging and dropping a module to create a login page in an online application using standard components, but how long will it be before an AI takes your place—an AI you can simply ask to "create an app that includes a login step using Google, Apple, or username/password"? Well, that is already the case: AI is now ubiquitous—appearing as a module you can add to your development framework (often dubbed a "bot"), integrated into the browsers you use to surf the web, and built into your word processors to spare you the effort of reading and summarizing text or drafting content from a prompt.
Optimism and awareness
So, on the one hand, a sense of reality is needed; following the adage "if you can't beat them, join them," I have for some time been exploring two of the leading no-code players—though I will discuss that elsewhere.
On the other hand, it is clear that all existing software isn’t going away tomorrow; therefore, you are more likely to be sought after if you have prior development experience, rather than just experience in “managing content” produced by others.
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