You’re probably aware of the phenomenon known as the Great Resignation, which is the pandemic-inspired trend of employees across all industries abandoning their employment in large numbers. Several observers claim that although this phenomenon hasn’t yet reached the community of software developers, it will soon. The Great Resignation’s delayed arrival could make the experienced developer scarcity a more significant problem than it currently is.

According to an MIT study, the enterprise software sector would have an average attrition rate of 13% between April and September 2021. However, Anderson attributes this tendency to a talent shortage that cannot keep up with the demands of the expanding sector.

Developers are increasingly in demand as software consumes the globe. Competitive salaries are used by businesses to slay their competition for talent when there aren’t enough skilled developers to go around. This offers talented coders a wide range of tempting possibilities.

In an IDC study of 380 businesses conducted in January 2021, 48.6% of respondents said they were buying low-code development platforms (LCDP) to bring innovation in-house. The IDC study stated that “needs related to the pandemic” came in second place (39.3 percent) as a justification for purchasing the software solutions.

IDC also states, “Organizations saw value in low–code platforms to help move fast to meet needs brought on by the pandemic.”

According to research firm Gartner, the use of LCDP is increasing at a rate of over 20% annually. The low-code development technology industry generated $13.8 billion in sales in 2021. By 2023, more than 50% of medium-sized to large businesses are anticipated to have implemented low-code development.

Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president at Gartner, stated that, “The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have validated the low-code value proposition”.

He also added that “low-code capabilities that support remote-work function, such as digital forms and workflow automation, will be offered with more elastic pricing since they will be required to keep the lights running”. 

Since it enables almost anyone to be a developer, low-code technology is intended to close that gap. In comparison to less than 25% in 2020, Gartner forecasts that by 2025, 70% of new applications created by businesses would use low-code technology.

Fortunately, there is widespread awareness of the skills gap. Here’s how the use of LCDP addresses the talent deficit.

Life with Less Code

Businesses have always had two options for acquiring business software: purchase it from a vendor or lease it from a SaaS provider or create it themselves. Making a business application internally entails tailoring it to meet enterprise requirements, much like a custom suit. Similar to buying software off the shelf, it often costs more and takes longer to produce.

When creating an application, low-code development tools abstract away the more often used codebase and replace it with a graphical user interface (WYSIWYG) interface. According to Gartner, “these tools simply refer to the abstraction of the entire codebase into GUIs.”

Low-code eliminates the need for niche app developers by allowing business people with essential formal coding experience to create apps.

Designed primarily for developers, Profound.js is a low-code JavaScript/Node.js solution that works on all platforms (even IBM i). It is the first genuine low-code platform to run natively on IBM i. It has complete RPG/DB2 interaction, enabling businesses using IBM i to migrate into the future without losing years of IT investment. It can increase the speed of application development by 10x today.

The benefits of using Profound.js include:

1. It can reduce the time it takes to develop custom business applications
2. It can ensure you find the resources needed to replace the wave of retiring RPG developers
3. It can enable the rapid rewriting of legacy and desktop applications so they can run on any browser, any sized device, and with a fully responsive design
4. It can easily jump between low-code plugins and hand-coding without the need to export code out of one programming paradigm into another
5. It allows an organization to quickly find new development talent to replace retiring RPG developers
6. It directly interfaces with systems of record on IBM i/DB2 by directly calling your existing programs and services programs
7. It can decrease your never-ending backlog of IT projects

What Does LCDP Support?

According to Gartner, LCDP supports several technologies such as:

1. UI functions – The development tool may enable a variety of experiences, such as chatbots powered by artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and wearables, in addition to fixed application user interfaces, communication methods like email and messaging, simple online and mobile forms, and more.
2. Data – Data modeling, database or data access technology, or master data management characteristics are typical examples of development technologies. Other data may also be offered, such as documents and other material. Providing prebuilt data schemas for SaaS or domain compatibility may be possible. While some (low-code) platforms just demand using existing data sources, others only incorporate databases for their cloud-based products.
3. Process and workflow – Several processes may be supported through orchestration or workflow tooling.
4. Business logic – In addition to the straightforward scripting of business rules, development tools may also explicitly support a variety of different business rule types, rulesets, and the execution of those rulesets, as well as act as decision-based organizations for business logic.
5. Integration – Several information sources are needed by apps but are found in external components and must be accessible via APIs. Other APIs may offer access to event-based APIs or event brokers.
6. Services – Technologies for low-code development may comprise a variety of prebuilt services tailored to a given industry or application domain. These services could either be black boxes or have definitions and models that can be altered.

Organizations should exercise caution when assuming that low-code platforms will be easy to use. Although many vendors mention citizen developers, what matters most is that users can identify what they want to do and put together good software to achieve it.

If a worker doesn’t know how to write well or make correct spreadsheets, even if you give them access to Microsoft Office with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the result won’t benefit anyone but you.

The Great Resignation Is Here

The Great Resignation might be just around the corner, even though it hasn’t yet had an entirely negative influence on the development community.

An MIT study that examined 34 million online employee profiles to identify U.S. workers who left their jobs, retired, or were laid off in 2021 found five key reasons why people leave their jobs.

According to the survey, the most significant reason influencing workers to leave their positions is a toxic workplace culture, which is ten times more important in predicting turnover than pay. Employees reported unethical behavior, a sense of disdain, and a lack of focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion as aspects of a toxic culture.

Working in highly creative organizations was one of the leading causes of the Great Resignation. Employees were more inclined to remark critically about a work-life balance and consider leaving their jobs when they expressed more enthusiasm online for innovation at their organization.

According to the study’s authors, “Staying at the cutting edge of innovation often requires employees to put in longer hours, work at a faster pace, and experience more stress than they would in a slower-moving organization.” Despite being challenging to maintain over the long run, the task may be fascinating and fulfilling.

The study also noted that employment insecurity and rearrangement, failing to acknowledge employee performance, and inadequate managerial reactions to the COVID-19 epidemic are further contributors.

The Real Deal

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