I honestly can’t remember how I first came across Power Apps, but I’m fairly certain it was by accident. One of those things I stumbled across, possibly from a newsletter, possibly through another service, possibly from a website or blog.
I do remember being both hesitant and fascinated. What was this thing that purported to let me build my own apps? Could it really be that simple? Was I even allowed to do this? How far could I go until IT came knocking on my virtual door with a cease-and-desist order? (Cut to flashbacks of my highschool’s head of IT cutting through my domain, a.k.a the yearbook room, and throwing out a comment about noticing my laptop connected to the school’s network… Though now that I think about it, he didn’t mention anything until I’d practically graduated, and made no effort to disconnect me. Must have been my trustworthy face and overachieving-teenager vibe. But I digress.)
Moving on.
The first app I built was really just deploying the template service ticketing app and poking at it. How did this thing work? Could I replicate something like this? It seemed so different — and so much simpler — than my earlier foray into building an iOS app in Swift (that was short-lived, and so not memorable that I’d actually completely forgotten about it until I was writing this paragraph). I didn’t do much, but that template was invaluable in starting to unlock the possibilities of this fascinating new toy, I mean business tool.
Some time (and much playing) later, I found out about the App in a Day workshops and signed up for one. That was great in pursuing things forward and solidifying my foundation with the platform. Though I still question the usefulness of the partner running that workshop; they didn’t seem prepared for the questions I kept asking, and I got the distinct impression that the girl looking after my section of the room was seriously regretting her decision to get out of bed that morning by the end of the day.
Nothing to do with me, of course; I’m a delight and an absolute joy.
Toolkit and copious notes in hand, I returned to my office ready to keep exploring.