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Citizen developers are the next generation of people who will transform technology infrastructure and business units. In the Harvard Business Review Article “We’re All Programmers Now,” many companies have failed to pursue the potential impact of citizen-led innovations, as they are unsure whether they can trust citizen developed applications. However, some companies have successfully accelerated their business in profit and productivity by incorporating citizen developers— namely PwC and AT&T.

PwC sets up teaching programs to educate all of its employees and citizen developer recruits about technologies including Generative AI. As a result, after the program, citizen developers are more technologically equipped to come back to their business units.

Similarly, AT&T has used the power of citizen developers to incorporate AI and automation into their business. First, AT&T has a 40 hour training program that allows one to become a citizen developer. They have also generated a knowledge base that includes competitions, strategies for integrating Robotic process automation and machine learning, and other topics to keep for both citizen developers and professional developers. In addition, AT&T has ingrained community building activities to encourage discussion about “particular issues” or “new capabilities AT&T has developed.”

The article also provides tasks that must be completed in order for companies to successfully integrate citizen developers, just like how PwC and AT&T did. This includes, recruiting and classifying citizen developers, training and certifying, building a Citizen development infrastructure, empowering community learning, and managing value created by automation.

As I was reading through the article, I was not sure about the specifics of automating tasks in businesses, but realized how citizen developers play a pivotal role in digital transformation. Another challenge I faced was getting used to reading an article with technical language that I wasn't fully familiar with. I can overcome these challenges by delving deeper into AI’s applications in companies and how automation is generating value to businesses.

After reading, I am curious to know more about what skillsets technology companies look for when hiring a citizen developer, are there part time or full time opportunities, and what type of hierarchical changes will be necessary in big companies?

Next week, I want to focus my reading about the specifics of profit and productivity AI can create in a company, how it can take the company to the next level, the organizational changes that need to be made, and possibly AI’s impact on the community.

Professionally, I want to focus on becoming a strategic decision maker and stay perseverant throughout my learning process.

In a broader spectrum, I want to learn about how AI can have a lasting impact on society.