Here at The Support Group, we’ve been working with FileMaker for a long time – 40 years! But, just like in any other long-term relationship, it’s a good idea to step back and remember why we fell in love in the first place. We sat down with three of our System Engineers to discuss how they started using FileMaker, what made them fall in love initially, and why they still love it today.
Karstyn McCoy
Karstyn McCoy, our Director of Technology, first used FileMaker while working for a large charter school in California. The Support Group has been lucky enough to have Karstyn on the team for over 18 years.
How did you first get started using the FileMaker platform?
“It’s a classic story,” McCoy said. “The company I was working for used FileMaker. I started in tech support. It was a large charter school in California, and the whole school ran on FileMaker. I was working in the IT department and maintaining the FileMaker servers, and slowly started doing some development work on the system. I ended up being in charge of a five-person developer department.”
Why do you love FileMaker?
"I think it’s a great mix of simplicity and versatility. There are things you can do easily that would be much harder to do in other, more advanced platforms," McCoy said. "On the other end of the spectrum, there are frameworks in the low-code space where you can make something workable without a lot of coding—but a lot of times, you’re capped there. That’s all that application can do without serious coding skills to take it to the next level.
"FileMaker lives between those two places. There are many things you can do simply without needing a lot of coding experience. But if you need to take it up a notch, you can use the built-in scripting model to do much more complex things. It does that better than any other platform we’ve come across so far."
What would you tell someone getting started in FileMaker today?
"Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Make use of all the brainpower available," McCoy said. "The FileMaker Community site has many experienced users. You’re not alone—it’s a great community with plenty of people who enjoy sharing ideas, offering insights, and answering questions."
Nancy Rodriguez
Nancy Rodriguez, a Systems Engineer who joined TSG back in 2010, first started out using FileMaker, well, unintentionally.
How did you get started in FileMaker?
"By mistake! (laughs) I wanted to be a database administrator. I applied for a job that said 'SQL Database Administrator and FileMaker,'" Rodriguez said. "I thought it would be perfect because I loved SQL and the back-end of databases. The company was an online design school.
"I learned FileMaker by looking at what their system was doing, thinking about how I would have done it in VB.NET or another platform—and then seeing how it was done in FileMaker. It made it easy for me to understand how programming concepts I already knew were accomplished in FileMaker—things like looping and batch processes."
What was the first thing you really loved about FileMaker?
"One of the first things that really blew me away was the ability to add portals in FileMaker to see related data. I know it sounds simple, but it really is a game-changer," Rodriguez said. "Because you could be on a contact record, drop in this portal object, and suddenly see all the related invoices for that specific customer.
"To me, the speed at which you could do that was incredible. It was one of my all-time favorite things when I first started using FileMaker. That was my first ‘Wow, this thing is powerful’ moment."
Having worked with the platform for years, what do you love about FileMaker now?
"I love how quickly you can design a system. You don’t need to be a UI expert or a Database Administrator," Rodriguez said. "You don’t have to be an expert in these areas to build something simple. With FileMaker, you can do the UI, database, and scripting all in one application—which is amazing.
“The speed at which you can develop things is incredible. I don’t think other technologies allow for that kind of rapid development."
Jorge Kluchnik
Jorge Kluchnik, another one of our System Engineers, started using FileMaker right out of law school, when he was working for a company out of Europe.
How did you get started with FileMaker?
"This was a long time ago, in a land far, far away," Kluchnik said, laughing. "I was hired by a firm in Europe, and they were sending me to South America to run an office by myself. I needed something to manage the office and its data. I did some research, found FileMaker, and started building databases to manage some simple information for my office."
What do you love most about FileMaker?
"That's a tough question because there’s a lot. I think the main thing is that it’s a platform where you can develop an entire application," Kluchnik said. "You can build everything—from the structure and logic to the process, interface, and web connection—all in one platform, without needing other tools.
“There’s no need to compile code. You literally build it, and it’s live. You can be working with a client, make a change, and have it appear live for them. It allows us to build things very quickly."
Is there any advice you would give to someone just starting out with FileMaker now?
“I have this discussion with my clients quite often. I approach it from a business point of view, and not a technological point of view,” Kluchnik said. “Forget what your current system does, and concentrate on what you want it to do.
"Very often, we'll have someone say, 'Here’s our old system. We’d like you to rebuild it and bring it up to date.' They’ll begin walking us through the old system, saying, 'Our old system does this' and 'Our old system does that.' But they don’t really stop to ask: Should it do that, or are you just doing it because that’s how it’s always been done? It’s difficult to pull them out of that mindset, but once we do, we’re on the path to success."
And there you have it—three different FileMaker love stories, but with common themes: the ability to do complex things easily, the ability to build things quickly, the ease of entry into the platform, and an overall affection for and surprise at what you can do with FileMaker.