Build Internal Automation with the Scripting Block

The thing that I love the most about Airtable is how powerful it is without using a line of code. Personally, I'm the kind of person who, after graduating college with a degree in Applied Mathematics, felt like I made a mistake for not earning a degree in Computer Science. In fact, I remember talking with my friends about this very thing at the time - I was worried that my math degree would be worthless and I wished that I had the foresight to put myself in more computer classes so I could pursue a career in tech.

Math taught me about processes - in math, you follow a specific approach to solving problems. I soon realized that these process and problem solving skills lent themselves nicely to business, and I then found myself expanding my business knowledge. While I had a ton of app ideas and process improvements, I still didn't have the technical experience necessary to build a solution. That is, until I found Airtable.

Airtable's appeal was the lack of code. It was as easy to use as a spreadsheet, but it could build complex systems and it supported IFTTT automation potential. For the first time, I was able to build software solutions without understanding code itself. For this (long winded) reason, I was very uneasy when I first heard about Airtable's newest block: The Scripting Block.

If you're unfamiliar with it, the new Scripting Block allows you to build automated processes and reporting functionality inside your Airtable database. Things that required multi-step Zapier automations are now available directly inside an Airtable Block. While this power was very exciting, I was worried that Airtable would build something so advanced that my non-comp-sci brain would fail to comprehend.

I'm very happy to announce that my fears were in vain!

The Scripting Block unleashes immense power with some simple JavaScript - and if you're like me (i.e. have no idea how to code) you will really love the incredible templates and support documentation that Airtable has put together for the community!

Check out this week's video and let me know what questions you have about this incredible new tool!