Developers have become a significant influence in the sales cycle, so understanding how they evaluate tools and engage with them is crucial for companies that offer developer products, APIs, or frameworks.
As a developer, I have also been involved in several tool evaluation processes. Now, as a developer advocate at OutSystems, I thought it would be interesting to share with you, developers out there, how OutSystems addresses the different evaluation criteria that keep you up at night when your boss tells you there's a new tool they would like you to test.
Table of contents:
- Demystifying what it means to be a developer
- Challenges in software development
- 6 Factors to consider when evaluating a technology
- How OutSystems addresses all these points
- Looking to experience OutSystems?
Demystifying what it means to be a developer
Contrary to popular belief, developers are not just basement-dwelling, anti-social beings who only work on computers and fix coffee machines. We’re creative problem-solvers that develop software using programming, math, engineering, and creative skills. We engage in meaningful discussions and play a crucial role in the company's bigger picture.
Being a developer is challenging. It requires a high level of technical knowledge, the ongoing pursuit of new technologies and tools, and the ability to solve increasingly complex problems.
Despite the hundreds of thousands of tech graduates entering the job market each year, there is still a vast shortage of development talent as software development has become more sophisticated and complex.
Challenges in software development
One of the reasons why software development is complex is that there are additional demands that we didn’t have a few decades ago. While language design has improved significantly over the years, reducing the amount of custom code it takes to write most software, the explosion of new technologies, and the fact that businesses are becoming more complex are contributing to the rising complexity of software.
Additionally, technology always keeps evolving, and best practices are constantly changing. This means we’re continually learning new technical and non-technical skills to progress in our careers and stay relevant.
Overall, understanding developers' challenges and how we think is crucial to creating a good evaluation experience.
6 Factors to consider when evaluating a technology
When evaluating and adopting technologies, developers typically consider a range of factors. Here are the main ones you should be worried about:
- Technical features: evaluate the technical features of a technology, such as its performance, scalability, reliability, and security.
- Ease of use (developer experience): search for technologies that are easy to learn and use. Consider the complexity of the technology, the quality of its documentation, and the availability of support and training resources.
- Popularity and community support: look for technologies with a large and active community of users and contributors. A strong community indicates that the technology is well-established, widely adopted, and has a large pool of resources and expertise available.
- Compatibility and integration: be sure the technology works well with other tools and systems. Take a closer look at the compatibility and integration capabilities before adopting the new technology.
- Cost: pay attention to the cost of the technology, including licensing fees, hosting costs, and ongoing maintenance and support costs.
- Future viability and career: invest in technologies that will be relevant and supported in the future. While evaluating, assess how that technology will impact your career.
How OutSystems addresses all these points
Now, let’s apply these evaluation criteria to OutSystems.
The details below combine relevant information about the platform with feedback from new developers who have adopted OutSystems over the last year.
Technical features
OutSystems provides a visual language that abstracts other “regular” languages, similar to Java or C# abstract assembly.
This allows developers to focus more on the “what" than the technical details of the “how”. You can use pre-built modules and components that are already tested and optimized, allowing you to focus on customizing the solution to meet your company's specific requirements.
Our community says this way of coding saves much time on boring and repetitive work.
Ease of use (developer experience)
Like any other language, there’s a learning curve. But, according to some professional developers that recently started working with OutSystems, although it feels weird initially, it’s very easy and smooth to use the IDE after a few interactions.
Besides the drag-and-drop interface that removes the complexity of learning a new tool, the platform also provides extensive documentation and training resources to help developers get up to speed quickly.
Community support
OutSystems has a large and active community of developers and users, providing access to a wealth of resources and expertise.
Developers can tap into this community for help with troubleshooting, best practices, and innovation. The time to get a first reply is 2 hours, and the average time to get a solution is less than 24 hours.
Compatibility and integration
This is one of the biggest strengths of OutSystems, according to developers. Our low-code platform supports integration with a wide range of third-party tools and systems, making integrating the platform into their existing tech stacks easy.
You can explore our integration capabilities right here.
Cost
This is the most controversial point because there is always an open-source counter-argument when discussing costs, not just about the price but also about being open. However, when it comes to enterprise applications, developers must make some tradeoffs and use secure, reliable, and scalable technologies.
In this context, OutSystems provides flexible pricing models that allow enterprise developers and businesses to pay only for the resources they use and different license tiers.
The low-code approach of the platform also reduces the time and effort required to build applications, which can result in significant cost savings.
Future viability and career
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies (currently 25%). So, developers who gain expertise in low-code development with OutSystems will be well-positioned to take advantage of the growing demand for these skills in the job market.
Besides OutSystems being a well-established and growing platform that is expected to be relevant and supported in the future, developers in the ecosystem reported that their job satisfaction increased and that they felt more fulfilled and valued.
Furthermore, if you are evaluating the different low-code platforms, know that in the latest Gartner Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Low-code Application Platforms report (January 2023), OutSystems scored the highest in the majority of criteria Gartner used to evaluate the top low-code platforms:
Looking to experience OutSystems?
Considering Gartner’s report findings, developers seeking to expand their skill set can significantly benefit from adopting OutSystems.
The platform presents a valuable opportunity to explore and integrate new technologies into their repertoire. Moreover, the demand for OutSystems developers surpasses the current supply of skilled professionals, making it a strategic move to enhance one's professional market value by acquiring expertise in OutSystems.
To witness real-world examples of the platform’s impact, you can explore our Customer Stories. There, you'll find inspiring success stories from organizations using the OutSystems high-performance low-code platform to drive innovation, streamline processes, and deliver exceptional experiences.
You can also experience the power of OutSystems by signing up for our free edition. It’s free forever.
