San Francisco's AirDev removes the need and cost of hiring coders

Is learning to code necessary?

Two Harvard Business School graduates, Andrew Haller, 31, and Vladimir Leytus, 29, think learning to custom code - building computer software, apps and websites from scratch – is a huge waste of time and money for small and large businesses.

And they have a better solution.

Haller and Leytus are the co-founders of San Francisco startup AirDev www.airdev.co In short, AirDev is the unlikely story of two entrepreneurs with no coding experience, quitting impressive consulting jobs to start up a small disruptive business that builds websites and applications more cost-effectively by not hiring trained coders.

By using a technology called Bubble, which lets anybody build websites or apps without experienced and expensive coders, AirDev can deliver its products within five days, a fraction of the time of a traditional shop. And the money AirDev saves by not hiring costly code professionals is passed on to its clients, who pay as little as $3,000 for a completed project.

“We started the company based on our belief that the way software is built -- and who builds it -- will undergo a fundamental change in the coming years, says Haller. “Today, excessive demand for individuals with coding experience drives prices to through the roof. But new code-free building tools like Bubble are removing the ‘language barrier’ from the process, enabling smart-but-non-technical people to build sophisticated apps and saving our clients a lot of time and money.”

AirDev is basically rethinking the way software gets built and its employees are a huge part of that change. AirDev hires well-rounded generalists who may have never coded before and teaches them how to build complex software from scratch. Its workforce come from diverse backgrounds including engineering, business, design, and others, but share one thing in common: they are passionate about helping others bring their ideas to life and want to participate in the software industry.

By hiring people with no prior code skills, AirDev’s process also solves the coding talent shortage. Technology companies today are locked in battle for technical talent. As a result, recent graduates from computer science programs can earn upward of $140K, while startups find it nearly impossible to hire technical experts. AirDev’s non-technical developer approach helps to relieve that pressure, offering an outsourced and low-cost alternative for companies that might have been left out in the cold.

“Twenty years ago, when Internet was in its infancy, every new Web-based application had to be built from scratch,” says Leytus. “Although that’s not the case anymore, businesses still spend an enormous amount of time and throw millions of dollars away on unnecessary development projects. We are providing a low coast, timely solution.”