The Siemens subsidiary Mendix has now published the German results of the international survey "Low-Code Forecast 2021", which deals with the digital co-design of non-IT professionals in organizations. The study analyses the potential of collaborative software development as a driver of digitalization with regard to the wishes and expectations of employees for new digital skills in the industry. The conclusion of the 250 industrial manufacturing employees surveyed: 61% want to actively shape the digitalization of their organization and as many as 79% of German industrial employees are interested in learning new digital skills such as programming their own app.

The role of low-code

More than 300,000 industrial employees are already actively working with low-code technologies - the potential in industry in Germany is 1.8 million professional low coders.

Thanks to low-code/no-code, software programming is increasingly becoming a fundamental skill that is not just reserved for professional developers. For example, 76% of the specialists surveyed from various departments stated that they would like to work more closely with their own IT department. 71% would learn low-code for professional reasons and use it in their current job. 6% of respondents are already actively working with this technology. Converted to the total number of employees in the industrial sector (currently 5,445,614 people according to the Federal Employment Agency), over 326,000 low-coders are already working in Germany's industry, according to the market research institute Reputation Leaders. Around 1.85 million employees count as an untapped potential of employees who could contribute to the faster digitalization of their companies and their industry through the use of low-code.

Willingness to learn is given

The fact that more than three-quarters of respondents attach great importance to learning new digital skills shows the fundamental importance of this in their future career planning. For example, 51% of German survey participants stated that new skills would help them to be even more successful in their job. 43% expect better career opportunities. Other reasons included the desire to change industry (26%), keep their current job (21%) or even start their own company (12%).

Almost two thirds of respondents had a clear idea of how they wanted to learn these skills. For example, 32% of respondents would prefer professional training from external providers and 30% would prefer internal coaching from the IT department. This is a good opportunity for employers to provide their employees with targeted training and actively involve them in digitalization.

A further 15% would like to experiment with application development through self-study and have time available for this. In contrast, 10% of respondents would prefer a programming interface with a drag & drop function and ready-made modules.

Low-code - still uncharted territory

Application programming with low-code is particularly suitable for the latter group, as it also gives non-IT professionals access to software development. However, as the survey also revealed, the term low-code is still largely unknown among industry employees: 46%, for example, had never heard of low-code before. A further 30% of respondents stated that they had heard of low-code, but without having a precise idea of what low-code actually is. This contrasts with 18% of participants who have both heard of low-code and know what the technology stands for. Last but not least, 6% stated that they were already active low-code users.

"There has long been talk of the democratization of software development through technologies such as low-code and the resulting boost for digitalization. The survey has shown that there is also great interest in more developer skills among non-IT professionals," says Hans de Visser, VP Product Management at Siemens subsidiary Mendix. "At the same time, we see a surprising gap between the desire for participation and the lack of awareness of low-code. Low-code can close this gap and also act as a driver of digitalization in the industry."