StateofWork

The Aspirational Developer
Coding is moving beyond the realm of traditional developers.
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#StateofWorkThe Future of Work: The CIOHow will IT leaders set their agenda for 2016?
   8 years ago
#StateofWorkCustServ in the IoT EraIoT requires a new way to run customer service.
Adrían Bridgwater
Q6. Does the aspirational developer need to code? What kind of skills should a would-be aspirational developer learn v. a traditional developer?
Jonathan Sparks
No, they need to have a mind to solve problems
Adrían Bridgwater
Perhaps we should also ask what skills should be THE SAME for aspirational developers and traditional i.e planning discipline, communications openness etc.
Jason Wojahn
I think the focus is too much on code, what about business need, requirements, ownership of outcomes
Sanjay Gupta
Logic processing
Jonathan Sparks
@jason_wojahn Right, solving a business problem instead of a engineering problem
Adrían Bridgwater
Logic processing sounds like algebra to aspirational developers --- we need to keep this more open
Jason Wojahn
@sparks_jonathan being close to the business need and taking ownership of the outcome... sounds pretty agile....
Adrían Bridgwater
Although I do take your point Sanjay :-)
Colleen Haikes
Theoretically the aspirational developer should not have to have traditional coding skills. Bring Your Own Domain Knowledge should be enough.
Sanjay Gupta
Not in the engineering sense. More in terms of what they need to get done.
Matt Saxton
if you take away syntax from programming your left with logic. Logic is more important than syntax.
Adrían Bridgwater
Let's remember, 8 years ago we didn't have the iPad and non-techies didn't know what an "app" was
Jeffrey Hammond
Think they should ate least be capable of doing Excel macro level algorithms.
Adrían Bridgwater
Now non-techies are (slowly) hearing about these things called APIs
Adrían Bridgwater
@jhammond that's what AUTO-SUM is for (just kidding)
Kristin Emi Rimbach
With simple drag and drop platforms and products like Service Creator, the code is nearly invisible http://www.serviceno...
Jeffrey Hammond
Look at what kids are able to do in Scratch and Minecraft - but there's still some typing required :-)
Adrían Bridgwater
Absolutely Jeffrey YES! .... actually go one step further back, what about Doom and the option to create your own world-spaces?
Colleen Haikes
@jhammond Kids call it "keyboarding" now :)
Jeffrey Hammond
It's really cool to see 10 year olds doing embedded programming these days - look at something like First Lego League...
Jeffrey Hammond
I must remember that for my next expense report!
Jason Wojahn
@jhammond You point is very valid, barrier to entry is dropping
Kristin Emi Rimbach
@jhammond Learning to develop is hidden for new generations- I learned HTML because of Myspace and now kids are modding with Minecraft
Göran Lundqvist
@kristinemi Yea, it's kind of scary. My 6 year old kid can do more complex stuff in Minecraft than I can do...
Adrían Bridgwater
Q2. Is there truly ‘low-code’ appdev today or is this a future state?
John Furrier
when things like powerpoint make presentations easy so we are seeing coding UX apps for anyone to create.
Colleen Haikes
Just look at Web development, the bar has been lowered so much that you don't have to really code.
John Furrier
It's a future state imo at least now but the path is clear - tooling is coming
Jeff Frick
BTW @jason_wojahn , congrats on Cloud Sherpas being acquired by Accenture. #WellDone
Adrían Bridgwater
@furrier is there a cut off point where we stop giving aspirational developers TOO much tooling?
John Furrier
yes tool overload will come but the platforms have to evolve as tools become more proliferated
Jonathan Sparks
We already know this is the case. There have been examples of this in the past - i.e. Notes and Quickbase. And this is something we see people doing with our Platform here at ServiceNow.
Matt Saxton
@cahaikes I second that. Look at CMS platforms setting up a blog doesn't require advanced knowledge.
John Furrier
tools for tools sake is not the answer imo; platforms & data have to be robust and extensible
Jason Wojahn
in a low-code model good development practice and standards are paramount.
Kristin Emi Rimbach
I Agree @cahaikes, low-code is happening today- building a website using drag and drop in Wix or Squarespace
John Furrier
Matt makes a great point; CMS need to handle push notifications not just polling databases; api integration is huge
Colleen Haikes
Plus school kids are getting exposed to the concept of coding at a younger age that they will have fewer psychological barriers to the concept.
Jeff Frick
@cahaikes > When does coding become a core requirement in HS, like Bio, Chem, & Physics
John Furrier
@cahaikes gr8 point about kids; structured programming edu is gr8 building blocks on thinking about future
Jeff Frick
@furrier > We've interviews some fantastic teachers on #theCUBE, changing the CS education game.
Jeff Frick
@furrier > And the president of Harvey Mudd says it's actually better to start them as freshman in College
Göran Lundqvist
I would say there truly are today, but I think it needs to get a bit more easier before it will explode
Jeff Frick
@cahaikes > Very important point, can be aspirational if you think the are barriers too high
Jeff Frick
> Toooo many / too much tooling can become a problem in it it's own right.
Adrían Bridgwater
So hey everyone - here's our first question: Q1. What are the trends driving non-developers to create applications?
Jeffrey Hammond
Every year we ask devs why they write code, including aspirational ones
Jeffrey Hammond
Some reasons: 42% say to improve their productivity at work
Jonathan Sparks
Technology is moving further up the stack, which has removed the need for an engineering background to build applications. As technology get’s simpler, these folks are thinking to themselves, I can do this myself.
Jason Wojahn
The same behavior that have driven Sharepoint sites and departmental spreadsheets #businessneeds
Adrían Bridgwater
@jhammond Is the term "aspirational" setting the right tone? Is it positive enough? Is it condescending at all?
Jeffrey Hammond
58% generally enjoy programming and learning about new tech.
Sanjay Gupta
#Opensource has facilitated the ability to "assemble" applications
Jeffrey Hammond
64% as part of a person hobby or pastime
Jeffrey Hammond
devs - pro or not - get their serotonin jolts from writing code, like a musician needs to play music!
Jeff Frick
> Desperation to get things done?
Jonathan Sparks
@jhammond Those who are considered aspirational find this out as soon as they get their hands on a Platform where they can build stuff on their own - i.e. ServiceNow
Adrían Bridgwater
@sparks_jonathan Bring your own device has become bring your own development ... so why not eh?
Jeffrey Hammond
I like "Aspirational" better than "Citizen" developer
Jeff Frick
> I think a more interesting question, is how to do inform them that they CAN create applications
John Furrier
Access to simple tools that have a gr8 UX is huge + access to data
Jeffrey Hammond
Also like it better than "non-professional" as many of the devs are "professionals" even if that don't get paid to write code per-se...
Jonathan Sparks
@furrier Great point on the UX John.
John Furrier
abstracting away complexity for fast app building #TimetoValue
Jeffrey Hammond
@JeffFrick Taking matters into their own hands - yeah.
Adrían Bridgwater
@furrier as long as abstraction is never a case of dumbing down functionality
Jeff Frick
> Before they're aspirational, they need to know it's in the real of possibility.
Jeffrey Hammond
@JeffFrick Seems like the more rules IT creates - the more it drives shadow IT, where aspirational devs tend to lurk.
Sanjay Gupta
The days for needing to code/program to create apps are over.
Jeffrey Hammond
I think you'll always have to type a bit (at least until NLP takes over.
Jeffrey Hammond
Sanjay - even w/ MIT Scratch, Minecraft or Unity - there's still "programming" - it just takes a different shape.
Jeffrey Hammond
That's one reason we tend to call new tools in this space "low code" as opposed to "no code"
Sanjay Gupta
@abridgwater Yes maybe a little coding but that need is coming down rapidly...
Jeffrey Hammond
I have a dev segmentation model I use w/ clients, and I have a segment called the "aspirant" - it's pretty close.
Jeff Frick
@jason_wojahn > Certainly what Atlassian is selling as a vision, JIRA, Confluence, HipChat - reduce email.
Jeff Frick
> Always interesting to see how density of information changes with experience. Start small, then load up once things are more failiary