No-code has grown exponentially in the past years and has been dubbed the future of development. Studies are saying that no-code will account for more than 65 percent of application development activity by 2024. This was propelled by the pandemic and in a recent survey, 26 percent of executives who said no code/ low code development platforms doubled their automation investments. According to 451 Research and FileMaker, Inc, most companies are reporting that almost 60% of all custom apps are now built outside the IT department.
Estimations for no-code and low-code market value in 2022 range between $9.88 -$26.23 Billion. The best is yet to be realized since estimations for Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) during 2022-2027 for no-code and low-code market range between 22.6 percent - 43.21 percent, with an average estimation of 30.15 percent. These are amazingly good numbers considering that in 2019, the no-code/ low-code platform revenue was only at $10.3 billion.
With these staggering numbers, it's easy to understand why no-code adoption is faster than ever before. Startup founders will benefit the most from using no-code tools by having access to technology to level the playing field.No-code tools allow small and micro-businesses employees to stretch their skills and build products and tools without developers. If you are a startup founder looking into learning no-code, here is our guide to finding the right course for you.
Just search no-code course in Google and you'll find a lot of no-code courses from different reputable online academies. However, there’s more to academic prestige to consider when learning no-code.
Learning no-code will take time. As a startup founder, time is important and learning might delay you from your business goals. Also consider if this is something that can be delegated to another team member or finding an agency with no-code experts. Delegation is one of the most difficult things to learn for some startup founders as we discussed in our previous blog, Startup Guide to Task Delegation.
No-code courses are offered on-demand training and there are boot camps or cohorts. On-deman training is the most popular because it lets choose what time you want to take the course and learn it at your own pace. It has guided lessons and has various content items such as videos, class recordings, PDF's and presentations that you can take any time of the day and week.
Cohort-based learning is an educational approach where you will join a group of learners as you move through a course or series of courses together. This is your usual classroom type where you learn with other people and encourage discussions and banters. Right now, there are no-code courses that offer fully virtual classes to accommodate the busy professional lives of prospective students.
Which of them is better? It depends on how you learn and what your schedule is. You need to assess yourself where you think you will learn the best.
Find a course that will fit your goals as a startup founder. It is best to check how it is structured and review each section first. See if there is a clear definition of the theories and practices contained in each, what activities will you be doing, and the timeline for each chapter.
The curriculum map can help you track your progress throughout the course. It is also important to know the credentials of those who designed the course. No-code development is still a growing industry but it helps if you have experienced instructors who understand your point of view as a startup founder learning no-code.
What is Your Budget?
Learning a new skill will not only cost time but money as well. You have the option to purchase courses or enroll in classes but if your budget is limited, you can always check Youtube to learn more from various videos. Also, check out Twitter since it has a thriving no-code community where users learn from each other. Don’t forget to check out #buildinpublic to see how people are learning while building.
Now that you have committed to learning no-code, here are some of the courses that we think are worth checking out. This list is just a start guide and we recommend to research more if it doesn't suit you.
This digital library has free no-code courses, beginner’s courses, and even a cohorts course. Their free course teaches the fundamentals of no-code, allowing you to build websites, mobile apps, databases, and automation. Their beginner courses come with a certificate and have a learning path. Their cohort course has 16 hours of on-demand lessons given upfront and gives access to Makerpad critique and even your peers.
100DaysofNoCode sends you free 30-minute bite-sized lessons delivered daily to guide your no-code journey. They also have a bootcamp where you can learn the fundamentals of no-code, build and launch a minimum viable product or MVP, and have lifelong friends & collaborators
Zeroqode is a no-code lesson hub that will help you launch your ideas fast and easily. It holds the largest Bubble.io tutorial base consisting of templates, courses, backends, web2native, development services, etc. They have free and paid courses which you can study at your pace.
Even if you are budget constraint right now, you can still learn no-code. Youtube has bits and pieces of videos you can watch to learn how to build clones of popular apps. You can also check AirDev Bootcamp where you can check their self-guided lessons. Adalo App Academy has an extensive lesson plan that promises to cover every part of the app-building journey and also get the perspective of agency owners.
No-code makes technology available for businesses of all sizes and even new ones. It is not a surprise that multinational businesses are investing in technology to improve sales and increase efficiency. Now, you have the opportunity to harness it and boost the first phase of your business. No-code is the future since the talent gap is still wide and the demand is growing bigger annually. If you cant expand yet on your manpower, using technology to take its place in the meantime is a cost-effective remedy for now.
The biggest challenge is time management. As a new business, you have to focus on what is important for your business. Creating a customized no-code app or system will take time and you will encounter hiccups along the way. Delegation is still the number one lesson a founder should understand. In the end, it's all about understanding priorities for hitting goals in the business and reaching success.
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