Written by Sonia Rebecca Menezes
“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.”
— Theodore Levitt
This quote by the famous American economist and Harvard professor, Theodore Levitt, fits our no-code approach perfectly.
And perhaps it describes you too: you’re already off the beaten path. You’ve made it this far because you’re creative enough to think up new things, AND you’re bold enough to step out and try them.
That’s how Levitt defined innovation.
Businesses are taking new steps to innovate. Where normally a team of full-stack developers would be summoned to build or automate — today, a single no-code expert can be hired to deliver the same results.
That’s why we’re exploring in this post the why’s, and more importantly how’s, of hiring a no-code expert.
Where did no-code come from?
No-code has been labeled the most disruptive trend of 2021 by Forbes.
It’s a way of building digital solutions and automating processes, without writing a single line of code.
In the past, if someone had an incredible idea for a digital solution, they would be bound by their technical expertise, or their ability to pay someone for theirs. In short, if you couldn’t build your great idea, you had to find someone that could.
Then came the no-code movement that gave rise to a new breed of software ‘assemblers’ rather than software developers, resulting in a flourishing ecosystem of helpful tools and super helpful people with one goal in mind: to drive innovation.
Michael Novotny, Founder of The Lean Side Project said, "No-code democratizes software creation. Today you can make complex web applications through visual drag and drop building. This means anyone who can read and write, now can become a software developer. This is a game-changer.”
What are no-code experts, and do I need one?
No-code experts are simply those that have used no-code effectively in the past to build solutions, automate processes, and improve productivity.
As such, they can make smart recommendations, and use low-code and no-code tools to help you accelerate the development cycle and solve problems.
The traits of a no-code expert are two-fold; (i) they need to be proactive, and (ii) they need to be familiar with business processes in order to make effective recommendations to clients about the ideal no-code stack for them.
We covered an exhaustive list of reasons why you should hire a no-coder in our previous blog post, but to summarize, here are some key advantages:
- You can leverage their industry expertise
Most no-code experts have built a solid foundation of business know-how, especially on leveraging no-code. This makes it the perfect opportunity for you to gain a better understanding of how to use no-code solutions to solve problems. Make sure you are intentional and deliberate about asking a no-code expert the right questions.
- More cost-effective
No-code solutions are always going to be quicker and faster to build. And while the hourly rate for an expert may seem steep, the value they bring is well worth spending top dollar on. After all, it’s not about having access to the best tools, it’s also seeing what those tools are capable of accomplishing in the hands of an expert builder. That is precisely what you need to aim for when hiring an expert.
- Greater agility
Building an entire team of no-coders may not always be quick or practical — so what’s the next best thing? Bringing in an expert that has worked with teams, understands business processes, and can plug the gaps exactly as needed. Agility is the way the no-code game is played, and there’s always going to be an advantage to hiring an expert from the outside to solve a process problem rather than spending hours toiling away at it yourself.
- Faster time-to-market
There are incredible case studies that expand on this advantage; one company reduced their time-to-market from 1 year to 2.5 months with no-code and another reduced time to market by 75%. By leveraging the advantages of no-code to reduce costs and the faster time-to-market, businesses can drive value and lower their budget requirements.
Okay, I’m convinced! How do I find a no-code expert?
There are many ways you could go about this.
It could be as simple as putting out feelers on LinkedIn with the right hashtags, or setting it up on Notion with information about the problem you’re facing, the tools you need to solve them, and the expertise required. This doesn’t happen as much because odds are most clients don’t know the answer to all those questions — that’s why they need a no-code expert in the first place.
However you choose to find a no-code specialist, the more articulate and clear you make your expectations, the more likely you are to find someone to meet them.
We’ve broken the process down for you, so dig in!
- What is your project about? What are some of the required skills?
What is the central problem? What are the possible solutions you have considered? It helps to outline the potential project or problem statement as specifically as you can, without throwing in technical requirements. Remember, you’re looking for a no-code expert, which means the right person for the job may understand the technicalities, but doesn’t necessarily need to be familiar with all of its workings. No-code experts can often be non-tech founders too.
- Do you have a location preference?
While the no-code movement is largely pro-remote work, perhaps you want someone in your timezone that can be more readily available. Some of the biggest development hubs in the world include North America, the UK, other parts of Europe, and India. However, you may likely find someone anywhere, so decide how important location is to you for communication, budget, and access.
- What sort of communication style and personality works for your business?
When it comes to hiring, people may not acknowledge it, but they’re often looking for the ‘it’ factor. And no, this is not an extraordinary skill set and resume, it’s simply someone whose style of working and communication matches their own. Nothing wrong with that, but remember that you aren’t looking for a best friend — you’re looking for someone you can work well with. Someone who can see your blind spots, think beyond just your business and provide perspective.
Much of the rest comes down to personal preference, and while there’s no formula to it, be mindful of what works for your team. Do you prefer someone extremely proactive or someone who can go with the flow? Would you rather have someone that provides a lot of feedback and suggestions or to simply follow instructions?
- What’s your budget and timeline?
Before you consider where you may find a no-code expert, establish a rough idea of how much money the project would bring to your business, or how much money solving a problem would save you. By doing this, you can set that as a basis for a budget projection. It always helps to have a complete understanding of how much you can invest in your project prior to bringing an expert on board.
Next, the timeline. It’s a similar process — ensure that you’ve mapped out a realistic timeline. This is particularly relevant when it comes to problem-solving: keep in mind the difference between importance and urgency. An urgent problem means that you simply cannot wait to have it fixed. An important problem may not necessarily be urgent, which means you have a bit of room to resolve it. Finally, keep in mind that when working with expert no-coders, you’ll rarely find one that is available immediately. Take that into account with your timeline when making your project plans.
Where’s the best place to find a no-code expert?
While this list is not exhaustive, here are some great places to get started on your quest for a no-code expert.
Makerpad is the world’s leading destination for all things no-code. Its vision is to educate as many people as possible on the possibilities of building without writing code. But it’s more than a space to learn — the platform has a dynamic job board where you can post a request and get access to the best and brightest no-code minds in the world.
Codemap boasts an impressive system that makes hiring no-code experts a breeze. According to their website, all experts and teams on Codemap are pre-vetted and verified by proven no-code professionals and software engineers. You can also hire teams or an agency to help you with additional services such as UX design, API integration, and more.
One of the largest communities of no-coders, Nucode has close to 5000 makers and experts. Nucode itself was built on Bubble, and began as ‘the Product Hunt of no-code projects.’
While code mentor is a hiring hub for developers in general, they do feature an exclusive job board to hire no-code engineers, developers, consultants, architects, programmers, and tutors.
Adalo is a no-code environment for building cross-platform mobile and web apps, but you can also find an expert for hire. The growing platform strives to empower people with great ideas by making app building ‘as easy as creating a slide deck’, whether it's by using their platform, or finding an expert to help you.
Aside from more traditional job boards, the no-code community sprawls far and wide on Twitter these days, and you’ll find the community is more than helpful with expert recommendations. Our best advice is to search for an expert in a particular tool, if you know which tool(s) are best for your project. Or if you’re not yet at that point, try sending tweets and @ mentioning some of the big no-code players, and use the #nocode hashtag.
We hope this guide simplifies the process of finding the most suitable no-code expert to help your business. To wrap up with the thoughts of Theodore Levitt — it’s time to start innovating. It’s time to do the thing!
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