Exploring Google’s AI Model: A Civil Engineer’s Journey into No-Code Development

Over the past couple of weekends, I’ve had the opportunity to dive into the world of Google’s AI model, and let me tell you, my experience has been a mix of fascination and unease.

To give you a bit of context, my professional background is in civil engineering, focusing primarily on design and project management. I am by no means a tech expert—I have no prior coding or computer science experience. Interested in exploring new technologies, I recently signed up for a free student license to experiment with Google’s cutting-edge AI model.

My goal was straightforward: I wanted to see if someone like me, with no background in programming, could leverage this powerful tool to develop a simple application that would help me manage my small-scale projects more effectively. I envisioned a user-friendly interface that would allow me to track project health, financial data, and generate easy-to-read charts. While we already have software that serves this purpose, I was eager to create something tailored to my specific needs.

After dedicating nearly eight hours last weekend to this endeavor, I approached the AI model as if I were conversing with a team of seasoned developers. To my surprise, the AI wrote entire blocks of code for me, guided me on which programs to download, and instructed me on where to place the code snippets.

The results were undeniably impressive. I successfully built a small application without any prior coding knowledge! While it may not be flawless and requires some tweaks, it meets my requirements just the way I wanted.

However, this journey also left me feeling a bit apprehensive. The rapid advancements in AI technology can be unsettling. If this is where we are now, I can only imagine how much more sophisticated these models will become in the near future.

As I reflect on my experience, I want to share that I’m already planning to create more small-scale applications in the coming week. The potential to simplify our workflows using AI tools is vast, and I’m eager to see how this technology evolves.

Stay tuned for more updates on my no-code journey and the applications I create along the way! If you have any tips or insights on working with AI models, please feel free to share in the comments.