An X-ray of the software engineering market looks like this: the US software job market faces a shortage of 427k tech people, while 9 out of 10 business owners are having a hard time finding IT professionals
-- (research done by Indeed).
Looking from a different angle, on Linkedin there are around 8k open positions worldwide for a low-code engineer, as of Feb 2020. By 2024, Gartner estimates that 65% of all activities around traditional code will be replaced by low-code.
Put this all together and you can see that companies are looking to attract a slightly different role to solve the IT skill gap: the low-code engineers.
But what does this profile look like? Is it the traditional software engineer with a set of low-code skills on top or are we talking about a completely different role? At Plant an App, we’re already familiar with the role, our engineers are dedicated to developing business applications using low-code. Based on our experience, we’d like to share what a company should look for when it comes to hiring a low-code engineer.
Job Description
The Low-code engineer will be responsible for developing applications using a low-code development platform, setting up and configuring systems for each client's unique requirements.
Briefly, a low-code role revolves around:
- Delivering enterprise applications with minimal traditional coding needed
- Working with three key elements: form builders, pre-built templates, drag-and-drop visual interface, entity builder
- Researching and analyzing internal business processes with the scope of optimizing and automating them
- Building technology like a software engineer, but faster and smarter using productivity tools
Strong confidence in leading customer project engagements is essential, but it can be gained in time, too.
Experience
If you are naturally drawn to technology and understanding it, if you’re guided by a collaborative and communicative spirit in a dynamic software development environment, then you might be a match. But if we were to be more specific, ideally you already have:
- Minimum (2) years experience with:technical Support, specializing in software and problem diagnosis
- Leading and planning technical software implementation processes
- Working with customers to capture and define requirements
- Leading implementation activities
- Knowledge of APIs and experience of software integration
- Agile working practice, structured project management, and communication
Hard Skills
- Ability to diagnose application issues and to decide what can be done with low-code instead of traditional coding (80/20 rule)
- Intuitive about how an idea can be turned to an actual working application using drag and drop visual environment
- Familiarity with pre-built templates, drag-and-drop visual interface, entity builder
- Basic SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and general Web 2.0 techniques experience
For more complex applications, experience with front end frameworks (Bootstrap, Materialize) would be useful;
Soft Skills
- Productivity and performance focus
- Problem-solving skills and solution-oriented attitude
- Cross-functional teams clear communication
- Client-oriented and a collaborative spirit
- Proactive attitude in automating processes as much as possible;
- Curious and a continuous hunger for learning and staying up to date with the latest solutions on the market (especially in the low-code field)
- Analytical mind Creativity, open-minded attitude
Responsibilities
- Capture and clearly articulate requirements: work closely with end clients in order to prioritize different working items
- Establish implementation capabilities and limitations, performance requirements and interfaces for the end-user solution
- Deliver efficient solutions using low-code: analyze clients business, systems, and workflow processes and come up with solutions that meet customer's needs
- Carry out solution testing: ensure efficient on-boarding processes for new clients; carry out root-cause analysis to develop logical conclusions and suggest alternative configurations
- Overall ownership of solution implementation: be in charge of assigned customer projects, ensuring timely and efficient communication and solutions are delivered to plan
- Coordinate and execute testing, in concert with customers to ensure successful implementation.
This role is still being shaped and reshaped , companies are still learning (including us) what to ask from low-code engineers, while on the other hand they're still mastering their low-code skills.
It's a matter of time, clear communication and experience until a formula that meets both the needs of an employee and employer will be found.