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My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

tines.com

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Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#21

Post by Jedd »

> My main issue with Node-RED is that I have to install, run and maintain it myself. There have been times when I've forgotten which Raspberry Pi it was running on and I've re-flashed the SD card!

Installing Node-RED is a low-effort task. Setting up backups of your flows is a tad more effort, but plenty of documentation around this. It also does IMAP, I believe. In an article bemoaning vendor abandonment syndrome, something free that runs on your own equipment, is a feature.

A post-it note would be a cheaper solution to that second problem.

Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#23

Post by Mandatum »

Axsuul wrote: post #19

Had anyone tried out https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n Also a Zapier competitor but self-hosted

Yes. If you’re a developer that’s done a fair amount of automation, Python and the like are easier for batch or timed tasks. Having said that, I still use n8n for running event based source stuff which might still feed into a script. I also use it when I want a GUI instead of working out the “best” library and no HTTP API exists that I export by relocating requests from my browser (I’m looking at you all those devs moving to WS).

I just wish its main configuration/scripting language wasn’t JavaScript. If it was agnostic and I could drop-down to something else that would be great.

The Docker and packaged Apps they provide are excellent starting points.

Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#24

Post by Mandatum »

mercwear wrote: post #9

From the outside looking in Tines looks to be a less feature rich and much more expensive version of Zapier (almost like a VC had the idea of building a Zapier clone and slapping a ridiculous price on it along with some "security" verbiage to spur the interest of larger businesses who see a $99/mo product and instantly believe it's not enterprise ready). I do not see a way to automate most of my side projects given t…

The UX of Tines beats the pants off ALL of their competitors. They’re just too expensive.

I’ve tried them all.

Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#25

Post by rtkaratekid »

bikingbismuth wrote: post #7

I once had to implement SOAR in a “no code” automation solution (it was not Tines), and it was terrible. There were a lot of connectors and transformers, but almost all of them had some weird quirks that made them hard to use effectively. Coming from an “all code” background I was pulling my hair out trying to troubleshoot everything. The project was sufficiently onerous that I actually left my job over it.

I had to do this too. I eventually learned I could write python plug-ins and started writing the workflows that way instead. But then it exposed to me how actually unwieldy the api was and I was extremely unhappy with the work. I would automated everything myself, without the framework, but the platform was in part there to help those who lacked the technical skills to do everything from a terminal etc. I hear they’re still fighting with it even months after I left the job.

Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#26

Post by randito »

gorjusborg wrote: post #6
nyx wrote: post #3

This article is a lengthy preamble to an advertisement for a SaaS product, but I'm thankful you at least get to a conclusion before the evangelism begins: there's a basic pattern here, i.e. "get data from X, transform it, and put it in Y", and the tools, systems, and platforms listed are all solutions to the same basic problem. I'm sure there's a use case and a market for this product, but I'd wager that I'm not alon…

What saves me the most time is not "automation" but something I call "Don't waste time learning things that are likely to go away". So yeah, I'll just leverage the skills I've leveraged over and over to make a living.

That's a really interesting point.

This seems to explain a skepticism that I have, with regards to new tools, new languages, and especially "a new [x] that will solve all your problems."

Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#29

Post by nescioquid »

By all means, learn to automate ditch-digging. That is certainly useful. If it's also your job, perhaps you'll notice there's just a higher-order ditch to be dug. If so, what's the next move? Automate the automation of the ditch-to-be-dug, or start writing a blog about first-order ditch-digging automation? Or shill for a company who furnishes ditch-digging tools?

In which case, I'd suggest learning how to write in a way that doesn't channel Dan Brown blog-shit (section header every two paragraphs vs. two-to-three pages a chapter). Or learn to write ad copy, or talk about using VAX systems to fill out the preamble to your chili recipe. Even failing that, I suppose you've reached your no-code solution out of ditch-digging.

Re: My thirty years of dodging repetitive work with automation tools

#30

Post by kilroy123 »

Axsuul wrote: post #19

Had anyone tried out https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n Also a Zapier competitor but self-hosted

I've used it a fair amount. Some cool features for sure. I love how you can copy and paste workflows from their docs / forum.

For some reason I can never fully grok how data is moved around from node to node. (Or at least remember when I come back after many months)

(e.g.: items[0].json.data)

The problem I have with it, is just not enough integrations. That's really the secrete sauce behind zapier. They have _so many_ integrations with a million different services.

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