Do you consider low-code tools?

Some thoughts on tooling…

The is a new generation of dev tools emerging that don’t quite fit the boundaries of 1st generation low-code development. These tools are more mature and are focused on pro developers – but would you consider them?

Developers should spend their time on the unique logic their solution requires, not on tooling and infrastructure. Being a software developer today is not about writing code but is mostly about the stack, the platforms, data sources, databases, network layers, APIs, security mechanisms and procedures that you use to build software solutions. In theory low-code tools should allow for faster development of systems using skills that are more readily available at the cost of the tooling and the risk of the project failing due to tooling constraints.

For example, building and maintaining back-end applications are complex and time consuming. You need to select the right tools, write boiler-plate code, wrestle with the latest framework, try to understand other people’s code, figure out new APIs, etc. Deploying and hosting brings its own questions: How do we deploy? Where do we deploy to? How do we monitor it? What about versioning, testing, security, etc? But there are plenty of new developer-focused tools to solve this (think Linx or mulesoft or even backendless).

Understandably , devs worry a lot about extensibility/limitations and lock-in but I do think developers that are responsible for delivering value, should also consider value in their choice of tools.

Thoughts?