If you landed on this article, you’re most likely a CIO or IT manager who has read all about the benefits of low-code, what you can build with it, and has concluded that low-code is the technology you need for your next development project. You have even evaluated the top low-code platforms and selected the one that better suits your business needs (hopefully, you chose OutSystems, if not, I recommend you to take a look at this page).
And now, it’s time for what many consider the hardest part: to get your development team’s buy-in.
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Sure, you can force them to use low-code, but the truth is, with the developer market as squeezed as it is, you can’t risk having unhappy developers. A recent report on developer engagement shows there’s a clear correlation between developers wanting to stay at an organization and feeling motivated, challenged, and satisfied in the long term.
So, how do you convince developers to embrace low-code?
Is there a “right” low-code developer?
Each time I'm asked about developers' reaction to the introduction of a low-code platform such as OutSystems to their organization, my answer is always the same.
First, it’s important to understand there are two types of developers.
- Those who write code for the beauty of it. Their passion in life is the “code”, the patterns, the compiler option, the best way to optimize it.
- And those — who I believe is the vast majority — who write code to solve a business problem. Their passion is to bring a solution to the users, and code is just a means to get an idea or a requirement to life.
The second group is the one you’ll want to introduce low-code to.
Still, developers who are new to low-code are usually skeptical. Beyond the security, compliance, and performance concerns (that we can demystify with supporting evidence), the biggest fear they express is:
“I am certain that I will encounter a barrier with any tool that adds a layer of abstraction over the code, which would hinder me from developing the solution to the business problem I need to solve.”
So, how can you convince your developers?
7 Arguments to convince your developers to embrace low-code
Quick disclaimer: not all low-code platforms are created equally. The arguments I’ll share here apply to any organization about to embark on a low-code journey with OutSystems.
If you’re still in the process of evaluating the leading low-code platforms, take a look at our Low-Code Comparison page.
1. Their job won’t change.
The development process is using technology to solve a business problem.
First, we did it with assembler, then with C, C++, and Java, and, today, with a combination of a JS framework for the front end and Python, Java, or C# for the back end. No-code and low-code tools are just the next evolution of software development.
I mean, does anyone miss allocating memory in C?
Building an app with OutSystems requires the same skills and competencies as developing with any other language. It’s all about combining screens, client logic, server logic, CRUD method, building a persistent object model without the hassle of managing the low-level stuff that doesn’t provide any value to the business.
2. They’ll just do it much faster (and they’ll thank you for that).
With low-code, developers can do the same thing they were doing with traditional coding, but 2-8 times faster. It’ll give them more time to step back, improve the application quality and solve higher-level challenges.
You can read our article on developer productivity to learn more about the features and functionality of the OutSystems platform that empowers dev teams to do more with the same resources.
3. Low-code doesn’t mean loss of control.
OutSystems has been designed by developers for developers with a simple idea in mind: to give developers the freedom to build anything they want fast and without limits. I assure you, with OutSystems low-code platform, they will never hit a wall.
This reminds me of an anecdote that happened to me the other day.
I was in a customer meeting with an OutSystems Partner with very strong competencies in traditional development. Today, he is developing with OutSystems but considers himself a pretty hardcore geek. He can develop in many languages and won’t hesitate to use a network sniffer to debug an API call that is not working as he expects. See the kind of guy?
During the meeting, I told the customer:
“80% of what is done today in the world with traditional coding in web and mobile applications can be done with OutSystems.”
The partner was caught off guard, and he looked at me and said:
“I would say 90%, as far as I’m concerned”.
See what I mean? Developers can build anything they want.
4. Developers can become full-stack without headaches.
Developers can build user interfaces, frontends, backends, and automation for both web and mobile while becoming cloud-native powerhouses without learning new skills.
In addition, OutSystems is the most flexible web and mobile business app development solution on the market, covering all aspects of software development. From B2C, customer experience transformation applications to core system and legacy modernization to, of course, all the internal business applications for operational efficiency (process-oriented or not).
5. They’ll have access to the GitHub of low-code components.
OutSystems developers can access over 4000 open components that they can reuse in multiple projects in all layers of an application: UI, business logic, and database.
The vast majority of these components — available in the OutSystems marketplace, the Forge — have been built by our Community of developers, making it the largest repository of low-code components.
Dev teams can use these components out-of-box or extend them with their favorite programming language.
6. They can join a large, thriving community of developers just like them.
The OutSystems developer community has over 700k members worldwide. A big part of OutSystems users actually come from a technical background and are using OutSystems to remove the complexity of the entire development lifecycle process and maximize their productivity so that they can focus on what they love the most: to innovate.
In fact, 91% of our MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals Program) are technical folks with a 10+ year developer career in other languages before starting with OutSystems.
Plus, if OutSystems users have any questions, they can use the community forums and see their questions answered in 2 hours on average.
7. They will thank you.
Yes, developers will thank you because they won’t be the person that makes everything sound complicated, costly, and tedious anymore. They’ll be closer to the business and be seen as an enabler.
What’s next?
These are just a few of the many reasons why developers love OutSystems once they try it. If you need more evidence to convince your dev team, take a look at the following resources:
- In the latest "Low-Code Development Platform" report, Forrester cited us as: "The developers' choice - and an SI darling.”
- Although we’re not strictly focused on BPM, like other low-code platforms, we have excellent BPM capabilities. In fact, we had the highest user satisfaction score in the latest SoftwareReviews Low-Code BPM.
- In its Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms report (a technical companion of the Magic Quadrant), Gartner evaluated OutSystems with the highest score in 3 out of 4 use cases used to evaluate the leading low-code platforms.
By the way, if you still have time, read this excellent testimonial from a developer who switched from traditional development to low-code:
"𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼, 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁."
