Megann Lock never imagined that someday building custom business software would be her full-time job. In 2019 she was a public school teacher with “an affinity for spreadsheets”, as she put it. Today, she’s a full-time Glide software developer with a large client base enlisting her help for both one-off app builds and long-term software development relationships with businesses.
“As I began building and tinkering more with Glide, I discovered a love for developing tools and building software, creating solutions where they needed to be created. I ended up changing my entire career.”
She began taking on freelance projects, and after a while, she was invited to join the Glide Experts program. As an official Glide Certified Expert, she got access to exclusive resources, opportunities to participate in shaping Glide’s development through product betas, and revenue sharing with the new clients she brought on board.
“I started building a client base,” said Megann. “Within four years, I made this my full-time job. Now, I get to choose my clients. I get to work on my own schedule. I get to set my own rates. Not only has my revenue increased, but I also have gained this invaluable experience of partnering with all these different businesses. That is the most amazing part about this job”
Partnering with clients to build custom software solutions
“Businesses seek custom solutions because every company is unique, and everyone likes to have a hand in building what they use every day.”
“You could go to QuickBooks or HubSpot and get a pretty good solution, but it may be missing that one specific piece you need,” said Megann. “Glide offers that capability. Glide offers unique solutions.” She has built a portfolio of long-term client relationships by viewing the process of building software as a partnership.
“You finish a project, and you're already on to the next one because you've become this integral part of their business. ”
Typically, she finds a client who has a specific piece of software they need custom-built. “I help them finish out one app and then recommend the next project they should build with Glide,” she said. “We create this alliance that ends up lasting years. It's really beautiful.”
Building a collaborative process with Glide’s accessible interface
One of the things that makes Megann so effective as a Certified Expert is the way she uses Glide’s accessible interface to collaborate more effectively with her clients. “They pay an hourly rate, and they get to have a hand in the building. We screen share, we build together, I show them things, I teach them,” she said. “I like teaching clients how to do things themselves because that opens up my time to work on the more complex things they need.”
“Without Glide, that wouldn't be possible. Other software systems are not as collaborative as Glide, they're not as easy as Glide, they're not as robust. ”
Clients are able to work faster and more autonomously because they can make some adjustments to their own tools. Megann can be more cost-effective and faster, making herself invaluable to clients. “If we were talking any other software system or low/no code software development or custom software development, Clients wouldn't be able to do things themselves,” she said.
Building a career in software with Glide
In the last four years, Megann has built ML Creative and created solutions for all kinds of businesses. She’s built apps for higher education, wellness, music, insurance, doulas, and beekeepers. She even made an app for the cult band Phish that reached fans in cities around the world.
Glide has been at the heart of that journey.
“Glide has taught me not only about software, Glide has taught me that my data needs to be structured in a certain way in order for it to be organized and read by any sort of program,” she said.