> I’m surprised anyone here thinks something like Snaplight would take more than an hour to build
I think it would take me longer just to make the icon, having never done anything like that before.
Think about all the skills you had previously built up that allowed you to make it in an hour. If someone lacks even one of them, they would never be able to do it so quickly.
I started coding long, long ago in order to build my web portfolio (back before site builders were a thing). As a result I saw how empowering coding can be.
I've always felt being able to code software gives you an ability to solve a lot of your own problems with technology. e.g. I have a lot of private tools I've designed and coded to help me in my day job (such as this simple one I recently open sourced: https://tannerchristensen.com/spf).
If you're a designer who works on digital products, I think it's only advantageous to know some programming. It gives you empathy for your engineering peers, gives you more insight into how what you design will actually get built (and the constraints/advantages of the technology), and helps you see problems in different—often more linear and logical—ways.
Learning to code is not for everyone, but learning a little can go a long way. At least learning the basics of code structure, loops, memory allocation and management, etc. would be my suggestion.
I think it would take me longer just to make the icon, having never done anything like that before.
Think about all the skills you had previously built up that allowed you to make it in an hour. If someone lacks even one of them, they would never be able to do it so quickly.