We live in an era of skyrocketing demand for new products and intense competitive pressure to get them to market as quickly as possible. Product development teams are scrambling to adapt, often by streamlining and automating time-consuming, inefficient processes. This has resulted in an increasing number of no-code and low-code automation platforms.

So, what does this mean for developers like you? Will you be replaced by an army of intelligent code-automation platforms bent on world dominance? Don't worry, pal. Your future is bright, and now is a great time to be a developer.

So, what is no-code?

No-code tools do exactly what they sound like: they enable individuals and businesses to create web-based products without writing any code. Users create their products in drag-and-drop visual editors that include customizable templates, and the corresponding code is generated automatically.

These rapidly evolving tools enable users to quickly create simple websites, apps, and software—all without involving developers. The keyword here, on the other hand, is straightforward.

Although no-code automation allows users to create basic products in record time, it is limited to templates and lacks the flexibility and scalability of manually coded interfaces. If users require more than what they started with, such as more complex logic or an external backend, developers have no recourse with the bloated code generated by these tools.

In other words, if a company's needs change or the product becomes too complex for no-code automation to handle, there is no way for developers to take over.

So, yes, no-code replaces developers—but only for applications that are of little interest or value to those developers. Unless your bread and butter are working on portfolio websites, mom-and-pop e-commerce platforms, and simple apps with little backend logic, no-code isn't much of a threat.

Wix is one example of a no-code platform

Wix is one of the most well-known no-code platforms available. It allows users to create HTML-based websites using drag-and-drop templates without having to hire a developer. But this isn't about financial services websites. Wix promotes its platform as a tool for "selling your products or services, starting a blog, and making smart decisions with clear analytics." It's not exactly a dev-killer.

Wix, like all no-code tools, is a one-stop-shop for a select group of users—many of whom would never create a website if such tools weren't available. It comes with an intuitive visual editor and a content management system (CMS), allowing even non-technical users to create, host, and maintain an app or website on the platform's servers without having to hire a developer.

No-code platforms are used for things like:

• SMB landing pages
• virtual stores
• single-page sites
• simple customer-facing or corporate apps
• blogs
• portfolio websites

Conclusion

Now let's come to the main question: Is no-code going to be the next big thing?

No. At least, not all of us, and probably not for a long time. For decades, people have been working on graphical and alternative systems to eliminate "code" from the equation. They can be nice, but every successful one I've seen allows you to drop down a level of abstraction and use regular code to create custom actions/components. It is necessary to allow for this because it is impossible to anticipate every user's need, especially for a general-purpose programming language.

They also do not eliminate the need for a programmer. To create useful and maintainable solutions, you still need a programmer's logical mind. It lowers the bar slightly, but you must still be able to reason about "if this then that" and how data flows through a system. Most "normies" don't have that ability, but many do. So, if anything, I believe they'll produce more programmers in the end. Programming may not look like it does today. Instead of a bunch of text on a screen, you get a bunch of boxes and arrows.

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