Blub Studies and the Need for Depth in Low-Code Development
Blub Studies and the Need for Depth in Low-Code Development
Aug 16, 2025
Joao Henrique
Low-Code
Is it worth going deep on things? This question has been around in programming for a long time. Gergely Orosz wrote about it. Ben Kuhn defended it. Paul Graham pointed to it in his famous essay “Beating the Averages.”
The concept Ben Kuhn coined in his blog is called Blub Studies: the practice of studying “boring” technologies deeply. It’s about asking why a tool works the way it does, rather than just accepting the abstraction and moving on.
On the surface, it feels useless.
“Am I really going to learn this just for one use case?”
“It works, who cares how?”
“I might be going too deep when I should just be building.”
But here’s the paradox: by going deep, you end up going broad.
Why Depth Matters in Low-Code
In the world of low-code tools (n8n, Supabase, etc.) the same principle applies. These platforms are built on abstractions. They make things easier, faster, more visual. And that’s the point.
But every abstraction hides complexity.
n8n’s nodes still run on APIs and background workers.
Supabase is “just Postgres” under the hood, with auth, edge functions, and row-level security layered on top.
Bubble makes frontend development drag-and-drop, but it’s still HTML, CSS, and JavaScript running in a browser.
If you don’t understand what’s beneath the abstraction, you build fragile systems. They work… until they don’t.
That’s where Blub Studies come in.
Two Practical Habits
Ben Kuhn gives advices in his Blub Studies blog post that translate well into low-code work:
Go deeper than necessary, be curious.
Don’t just connect an n8n webhook to a Supabase table. Peek inside the API request. Notice the rate limits. Check the error logs. Learn how retries work. The “boring” details compound into expertise.Pay attention to magic.
Something just worked on Bubble? Or a Supabase trigger fired exactly as you hoped? Don’t let it slide. Ask yourself: Why did that work? Guess the mechanism, then confirm it.
This habit makes you dangerous, in a good way. You start spotting patterns across tools, knowing which platforms cut corners, and building mental models that apply everywhere.
The AI Paradox
I am writing this during a strange moment in the evolution of software development. AI promises that you “don’t need to know anything anymore, just prompt it.” And yet, the best people in the field are obsessed with depth. They reverse engineer. They chase first principles.
Low-code has the same paradox. Everyone says, “you don’t need to code anymore.” But the best builders, the ones creating scalable, resilient, cost-efficient automations, are the ones who took time to understand what’s really happening under the hood.
Depth = Advantage
At the end of the day, Blub Studies in low-code isn’t about being academic or slowing yourself down. It’s about building an edge your competitors can’t copy.
Anyone can drag a connector into an automation tool. Few can explain what happens when that connector fails at 2am, or how to re-route data when a vendor changes their API, and consider all that when coming up with the architecture design in the first place so all these scenarios are covered.
That’s why Paul Graham’s line is still true:
“In business, there is nothing more valuable than a technical advantage your competitors don’t understand.”
Blub Studies give you that advantage, even (and especially) in low-code.
Are you looking for a reliable partner that is always going deep on new tech so you don't have to? Astra can help you build secure applications and automations that will get your company to the next level. Click here to schedule your call with us.
Is it worth going deep on things? This question has been around in programming for a long time. Gergely Orosz wrote about it. Ben Kuhn defended it. Paul Graham pointed to it in his famous essay “Beating the Averages.”
The concept Ben Kuhn coined in his blog is called Blub Studies: the practice of studying “boring” technologies deeply. It’s about asking why a tool works the way it does, rather than just accepting the abstraction and moving on.
On the surface, it feels useless.
“Am I really going to learn this just for one use case?”
“It works, who cares how?”
“I might be going too deep when I should just be building.”
But here’s the paradox: by going deep, you end up going broad.
Why Depth Matters in Low-Code
In the world of low-code tools (n8n, Supabase, etc.) the same principle applies. These platforms are built on abstractions. They make things easier, faster, more visual. And that’s the point.
But every abstraction hides complexity.
n8n’s nodes still run on APIs and background workers.
Supabase is “just Postgres” under the hood, with auth, edge functions, and row-level security layered on top.
Bubble makes frontend development drag-and-drop, but it’s still HTML, CSS, and JavaScript running in a browser.
If you don’t understand what’s beneath the abstraction, you build fragile systems. They work… until they don’t.
That’s where Blub Studies come in.
Two Practical Habits
Ben Kuhn gives advices in his Blub Studies blog post that translate well into low-code work:
Go deeper than necessary, be curious.
Don’t just connect an n8n webhook to a Supabase table. Peek inside the API request. Notice the rate limits. Check the error logs. Learn how retries work. The “boring” details compound into expertise.Pay attention to magic.
Something just worked on Bubble? Or a Supabase trigger fired exactly as you hoped? Don’t let it slide. Ask yourself: Why did that work? Guess the mechanism, then confirm it.
This habit makes you dangerous, in a good way. You start spotting patterns across tools, knowing which platforms cut corners, and building mental models that apply everywhere.
The AI Paradox
I am writing this during a strange moment in the evolution of software development. AI promises that you “don’t need to know anything anymore, just prompt it.” And yet, the best people in the field are obsessed with depth. They reverse engineer. They chase first principles.
Low-code has the same paradox. Everyone says, “you don’t need to code anymore.” But the best builders, the ones creating scalable, resilient, cost-efficient automations, are the ones who took time to understand what’s really happening under the hood.
Depth = Advantage
At the end of the day, Blub Studies in low-code isn’t about being academic or slowing yourself down. It’s about building an edge your competitors can’t copy.
Anyone can drag a connector into an automation tool. Few can explain what happens when that connector fails at 2am, or how to re-route data when a vendor changes their API, and consider all that when coming up with the architecture design in the first place so all these scenarios are covered.
That’s why Paul Graham’s line is still true:
“In business, there is nothing more valuable than a technical advantage your competitors don’t understand.”
Blub Studies give you that advantage, even (and especially) in low-code.
Are you looking for a reliable partner that is always going deep on new tech so you don't have to? Astra can help you build secure applications and automations that will get your company to the next level. Click here to schedule your call with us.