I’ve been writing computer programs since I was 8 years old. That’s more than 80% of my life.

As such, I often dismiss certain tools or techniques as “beneath me”. Excel? That’s silly! I can write a CRUD app! AWS? Pfft! I can run my services on a pool of Raspberry Pis in my attic!

Yesterday I set up Zapier for the first time. It’s definitely one of those “beneath” me tools. But dang if it didn’t save me a bunch of time!

Part of my job is writing API integrations, after all. So I know I could solve the same problem myself. I’d probably do it “better”, too, in some sense. But by paying US$19.99 per month, I can save a bunch of time, that I can now spend on something more useful.

Maybe I should learn to use Excel next…