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Ever worked on a low-code platform to develop a web app?

4 points by sunilkosuri ↗ HN
As a professional web app developer who develops apps using front-end frameworks such as React, Angular, Vue and back-end frameworks such as Node.js, Spring Boot, and .NET Core, have you ever been asked to work on a proprietary low-code platform? If so, how was the experience like? What were your concerns?

10 comments

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zxienin
I haven't been ever asked, neither can I imagine a situation where it would make sense for a professional dev.

low/no code is geared towards a. business "power" users b. highly template driven mass developments (in which case, I'd wonder why a professional dev. will stick around for long)

sunilkosuri
Yup, that's what I thought, but I have been hearing of late of situations where professional developers are being asked to work on proprietary low-code (not no-code) platforms such as OutSystems, Mendix, and others. Therefore, I was curious to how much of this is true.
smedhtx
As an ASP.NET Core dev, I was asked to work on Oracle APEX recently. It was a great experience compared to those Oracle Forms days. I can literally spin up a simple CRUD app up 15 mins, rather than dealing with usual lifecycle of a web app. It is great for small apps and teams, given the lack of unit testing and the ability to tweak performance.

On the other hand, I've seen massive ERP apps built off of APEX and its mind blowing how far they can stretch this platform.

sunilkosuri
Would you ever consider working on Oracle APEX full-time or do you consider that a career limiting move?
smedhtx
Maybe... I would definitely consider working on APEX full time if I was older and wanted a stable job where I can just punch in 8 hours and move on with other goals in life. As of right now I do want to play with the "cool toys" such as the Javascript ecosystem.

I wouldn't say the it is a career limiting move. You'll be dealing with PL/SQL 90% of the time when working on APEX apps. This can easily translate to other positions in the database field.

zxienin
I guess, if these massive ERP apps have high repeatability factor, then there is case to be made to treat it as such (cattle).

To this end, I'd like to see examples of these low/no code massive ERP apps.

poletopole
I worked years for a Dilbert boss who didn't know the meaning behind the saying "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing". He didn't let me code anything he couldn't understand and often rewrote my code into spaghetti. What I learned was that he wasn't anything special as a boss/founder and neither was I as a programmer. I left the company and didn't look back.

What you should look for in an employer is some one who does his job and lets you do your job with the same autonomy. What you should look for in a job is something you can automate easily away and move on to the next job, which may or may not be at the same company.

Eventually you'll find where you want to be, at the level you want to be, and with whom you enjoy working--maybe not even as a programmer. I used to think programming was an art, but it isn't, it's a means to and end. If low-code isn't the level you want to work at, then don't do it. I told my ex-boss "No" plenty of times and you're a professional whom has the power to do so as well. In the land of the blind, the one eye man is king.

santa_boy
Not proprietary, but I chose Bubble.io for creating a prototype of our current product.

The visual programming makes development and discussions very fast and useful. I feel it is a good way to vet and validate an idea before investing resources on a traditional build.

sunilkosuri
When you built the real product, which stack did you use?
santa_boy
Still building ... mostly MEAN stack for the app with analytics layer using Python