A few years ago, I didn't even know Google Apps Script existed.
A few years ago, I didn't even know Google Apps Script existed.
I first learned about it from my colleague Rohan Dayanand while he was working on it and showed me what it could do and encouraged me to learn. That sparked my curiosity, and I went down a rabbit hole.
I started learning with ChatGPT. I asked hundreds of questions. Broke scripts. Fixed them. Tried different approaches. Built small projects just to understand how everything worked. Every project taught me something new.
Then came a project that completely changed the way I looked at automation.
We had thousands of files compressed inside multiple ZIP folders. There wasn't a clean database or a perfectly structured system waiting to be automated. The only thread connecting everything was a single identifier and even that wasn't perfect, It was missing in some places.
At first, it felt overwhelming because it's complex and will take time and I don't have enough bandwidth.
Instead of jumping straight into writing code, I spent time understanding the problem. Where does this identifier exist? If it's missing here, where do I retrieve it? How do I connect everything and make this work reliably for thousands of files at once instead of doing it in parts? I was thinking about the same while walking, having my lunch and even when I was speaking to people lol
That's when I realized something. Automation isn't about writing code. It's about solving problems.
Today, AI can generate scripts in seconds. But it doesn't know how your organization's systems evolved, why exceptions exist, which data source should be trusted, or how one seemingly unrelated system can unlock another. That understanding comes from people. The real challenge wasn't writing Apps Script. It was connecting the dots and handling real-world complexity.
A year later, after learning from each project, I looked back at my first solution and realized how much I'd grown. What once required multiple sheets and several moving parts could now be accomplished with a much simpler and more flexible design. That, to me, is what learning looks like, not writing more code, but needing less of it.
What makes this recognition special isn't that I automated processes. It's knowing that during periods of high volumes and bandwidth constraints, our team could continue delivering without compromising quality or timelines because we found a smarter way to work. Thank you Archita Jain for having my back always.
Technology will continue to evolve. AI will continue to become more powerful. But I have learned that the biggest breakthroughs don't begin with code. They begin with curiosity. With understanding the problem deeply enough to ask the right questions. Because once you truly understand the problem, the code is often the easiest part.
#GoogleAppsScript #Automation #Productivity #ContinuousLearning #ProcessAutomation #Innovation