Creativity and Software Development Is a Wonderful Combination

Where does Creativity lie in the world of Software Development?

Coming from a background of the music industry, I have learned that creativity is flowing through every channel of creation in music. Producers are knocking their heads as they create bouncy drums and pumping 808’s, writers are picking and choosing words that fit the vibe of the record, and recording artists are carefully projecting their vocals in a way that perfectly paints the scene in which they lay those harmonies on top of a landscape of sounds. Even mixing engineers go into a deep flow when they apply lush affects to different tracks of a record. It is without a doubt, creating music is a very creative process.

But what about software development? How could something so embedded in logic, something so programmatic, and explicitly written in code be as creative as something like making records?

In regards to all of these different roles in music, what would some of the reciprocals be in software development? This would be a UI/UXdesigner, who create an in depth layout and structure of an application, and further implementing appealing visual elements that help with the look and feel of the application. The designer might then pass off the design specs to a software developer who could code those elements to life. This is sort of like an executive producer, who might flesh out the structure and tempo of a record, before handing that down to another producer to implement some drums and melodies to start the foundation of the record.

Music and Software Development are akin, here’s why:

They both turn nothing into something. They both start out as a mere idea, and with the power of the human mind, go on this wonderful journey into conceptualization. Take a pause for moment and try to hum a little melody or tap a drum beat on the surface in front of you; you are creating something that has virtually never existed before, at least not quite the way in which you did it. When a beautiful application is created, something similar happens, where out of thin air, art is created. Software is often providing a solution to a problem, but even that in itself is art.