Mashhood Rastgar Unwinds at 021 Disrupt 2020: Is “NoCode” Replacing Software Development?

There is no question on how the world is dominated by Computer today, or more like for the past few decades.

This debate has long expired in the favour of how technology has evolved and occupied every nook and corner of our lives. The next generation questions now concern topics such as, Artificial Intelligence and Code or Nocode.

Today the world is run by Computers!

Mashhood Rastgar CTO at sastaticket.pk shares his 15 years of experience in the field of Engineering and unleashes for us the world of Coding.  He is a Google Developer in Pakistan for Web and Angular. He explains how everything around us is coded or works with codes. Computers and machines being all around us, everything uses coded to function. Though, he explains that majority of the population is a consumers of it and not the producer.

0.50% Software Programmers | 200 Million Population | 350,000 Developers

So what is the “NoCode” Movement?

This is an interesting aspect to explore as we try to inculcate in individuals the desire to be creative and encourage them to initiate their ideas into start-ups. Mashhood Rastgar introduces us to the debate of Nocode Movement. With the conversion to Nocode we could unlock unlimited possibilities of creativity for everyone to create soft wares.


Read Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of Start 2.0


How is “NoCode” different from coding?

It essentially means drag and drop tools, though limited in terms of customization. Whereas, they allow you to customize and build your ideas and solutions as you perceive them.  It could still involve formulas and technical stuff if one wishes to do advance customization. However, it rids us of major coding technicalities only experts could do previously.

Key Takeaways:  Computers/ technology are used by everyone around the globe and is seeded in to our daily lives. However, only a fraction of people create software or introduce new and innovative ideas and the rest of us are just consumers. If we took a healthy transition from Coding to NoCode concept, everyone could spark creativity and there will be innovations not thought of before.

NoCode Movement is a visual approach to software development!

Is “NoCode” a new thing?

It is not like interfaces with NoCode did not exist up until now. They already exist in the form of Ms PowerPoint and Ms Word etc., where drag and drop is used to create things.

Mashhood tells how his only first website was designed using Adobe Dreamweaver, which allowed him to use Graphic User Interface GUI.  Tools today are even better! Just Sign up and start working on them. Interestingly they are available on cloud.


Exclusive Podcast with Neil Patel: SEO King and Marketing Maestro


Sign up and Start!

Wix, SquareSpace and Webflow among others are highly user friendly.  The beauty is that they are not limited to static websites but can be used to develop E-commerce stores.

Yes, you can sign up and start because they cover all the SEO, hosting, domain etc technicalities, that previously hinder many users.

The tools available at hand today allow you to essentially run businesses including tech businesses and that too without any tech-developers! Yes things have moved incredibly towards user friendly modes.

Swagup!

 Yes it’s a tech business with revenue of over $10 million and it runs without any Code! They use various tools like slack, stripe, wix and Typeform among others. They use a tool called Zapier which gels together all these tools.

Key takeaways: the NoCode concept is not very new. It has been in use in one form or the other for years, though its usability has expanded exponentially over the years. It can help run businesses in an easy and non-technically complicated ways.


Watch Mary Grove talk about why supporting entrepreneurs matter?


Too many tools spoil the broth!

There are too many tools out there and if one is unable to use them in a proper way it could end up losing its utility. Therefore, some guidance is essential to put aspiring startups on track.

One such platform is makerpad.io. These platforms can help you learn how to make the best use of these tools and optimise their use.

Does NoCode mean No Coders?

NoCode concept is still in its infancy despite all the tools made available. Like all technology it takes decades to replace the previous practices. For instance it took a while before database administrators were replaced with automated administrators. Hence, it will affect some part of coding industry; however, as of now it is far from replacing all of it.

The future is exciting!

Mashhood is excited about a future where developers can be more focused on serving the consumer with new ideas, rather than being focused on fixing coding glitches.

It can revolutionize the market in Pakistan!

With Pakistan lacking resources for developers to create and market their ideas, NoCode can welcome solutions from start-ups to create and gain feedback from local and international markets.

Key takeaways: as much as NoCoding is a reality, it’s still a while before there are no coders. The future of NoCoding is bright and innovative and a step towards more consumer-centred business innovations.


Watch Mashood Rastgar talking about on NoCode Replacing Software Development 


Conclusion  

The future is digital and COVID-19 has only helped accelerated this process, so it’s time we all start adapting and evolving to it. For the full clip and some bonus Q/A at the end of the session, head over to our YouTube channel and website to access the full version!