Chasing the Vision

Years ago, while building a website for students in his school district's technology department, Adam Taylor got a message that would quietly shape the next fifteen years of his career. A student, unknowingly testing the limits of a text field, typed a single word: "helloooooooooooooooo," dragging out the last letter until it ran clean off the edge of the design and broke it.

It's a small story. It's also the whole point. "I have learned to make sure my websites account for unexpected usage like that," Adam says now, and that instinct — build for the edge case, not just the demo — is exactly what separates software that merely works from software a business can actually run on.

Adam is a Senior Engineer here at VirgoDev, where he specializes in custom learning management systems for online schools and music training platforms — work that includes the lesson builder behind Miss Humblebee's Academy. I sat down with him to talk about what's actually changed in 15 years of custom software development, why businesses still choose to build instead of buy, and how AI is reshaping (and not reshaping) the job. His answers turned into a lot more than a Q&A — they turned into a pretty compelling case for a way of building software that puts a client's vision ahead of whatever a generic tool happens to offer.

01 — Where it started

What Got a Software Engineer Hooked for 15 Years?

Adam's answer is refreshingly simple: the satisfaction of a solved problem. "I have gotten such satisfaction out of writing code and seeing a computer execute the tasks that I created for it," he explains. "I enjoy the process of working through something and seeing it run successfully in the end. I still get a thrill out of it today."

That's stayed constant even as the craft itself changed almost beyond recognition. When Adam started, websites were built with HTML tables standing in for real layout tools. Browsers were far less capable, which made some things easier and other things much harder. "The three things that have changed the most are user expectations, browser capability, and how we go about writing the code," he says — a tidy summary of two decades of the web maturing into a real application platform.

02 — Build vs. buy

Why Do Businesses Still Choose Custom Software Over an Off-the-Shelf SaaS Tool?

Short answer: because generic tools are built for the average customer, and most businesses aren't average. Adam sees this pattern constantly. "There are many SaaS tools available these days, and it's easier to connect them together with solutions like Zapier," he says. "Sometimes this fills a business's need well enough, but it can be a slippery slope that leads to businesses sacrificing features they want due to the limitations of the pre-built tools."

That slippery slope shows up in the numbers. The average company still runs more than 100 separate SaaS applications — each with its own login, its own limitations, and its own slice of the workflow that never quite lines up with the others.

This is exactly the gap custom software is built to close. "Custom software allows you to get as close to your vision as possible," Adam says. "With a generic SaaS tool, it may get you somewhat close to your vision or perhaps even all the way to your vision — but what if you later decide you want to add another feature and it's something the generic SaaS tool can't do?"

And when a client does come to VirgoDev asking for something built specifically for them, Adam says the underlying reason is almost always the same: "They have a vision that they really believe in and want to stick to it as closely as possible. Whatever off-the-shelf tools they've explored have fallen short, so they decide they need something custom."

03 — Under the hood

Inside a Custom LMS: What Building Software for Schools and Music Education Actually Involves

Online schools and music training programs look like very different worlds from the outside. Under the hood, Adam says, they share more than you'd expect. "A lot of the logic for showing students and their caregivers their progress is very similar," he notes. "Both platforms also involve a lot of audio, which isn't common for typical websites."

That audio requirement introduces problems most web developers never have to think about. "Getting audio synchronization right is important," Adam explains. "Being off by a small fraction of a second can make it sound terrible. Also, allowing a user to build a piano song that sounds realistic and is efficient with sound files is more challenging than one might assume." Add in a young user base, and the design bar goes up even further: "It's always important for websites to be easy to use, but it's especially important when the target audience is young children who might not have a lot of experience using websites."

"The lesson builder for Miss Humblebee's Academy. It has many great features, and it's done in a way that allows people to easily build lessons that are accessible and fun for children to use."
— Adam Taylor, Senior Engineer, on the work he's most proud of

04 — AI in the workflow

How Is AI Actually Changing the Way Engineers Build Software?

Not the way the headlines suggest — or at least, not only that way. "I can ask very specific questions and get an answer instantaneously," Adam says. "Not only does the answer come quickly, but it's tailored to my project. There are many tasks that are much quicker to get through now." Asked whether AI is making engineers faster or just changing what "hard" means in this job, his answer is direct: "In my experience, it has done both."

The industry data backs up that nuance. AI coding tools have gone from novelty to near-universal in a couple of years — but adoption and confidence are moving in opposite directions.

That gap is where experienced engineers earn their keep. AI has made it easier to explore options, Adam says — "it's a lot easier to discover and explore a variety of ways of going about accomplishing whatever task I'm working on. There's more experimenting and it results in a better product" — but it hasn't replaced judgment. "I wouldn't say my work needs to use AI systems now, but it sure is very nice to have." Even old assumptions about the tools themselves are shifting: "It used to be common to always use a CSS preprocessor," he points out. "Native CSS has gained many features that used to only be possible with a CSS preprocessor."

05 — What great looks like

What Separates a Good Engineer From a Great One?

For Adam, it comes down to who the work actually serves. "Great engineers complete their tasks in a way that's good for both software engineers and users," he says. "For software engineers, this means having code that's elegant, easy to understand, and maintainable. For users, this means the feature is accessible and works in all major browsers and operating systems and accounts for edge cases."

That standard doesn't mean chasing elegance for its own sake. "If there is a bug in a particular web browser that requires a hacky workaround, or if there's some other technical issue, I will sacrifice elegant code in order to make it work reliably for real users," he says. It's the same principle that guides how he handles client requests: understand the actual goal first. "Once I understand those things, if I can think of anything that will achieve that goal faster and/or in a way that's a better experience for the user, I will present those options to the client."

It's a habit of mind that also shapes how he sees the client relationship. "It's not always obvious which features are time-consuming to implement and which features aren't," Adam notes — a reminder that good custom software development is as much about translation and trust as it is about code.

06 — Looking ahead

Advice for Business Owners — and the Next Generation of Engineers

For a business owner weighing custom software against a generic SaaS platform, Adam's advice loops back to where this whole conversation started: vision. Off-the-shelf tools might get you close. Custom software gets you all the way there — and keeps the door open for whatever you decide to build next.

Looking ahead, what excites him most isn't a specific technology — it's a shift in priorities. "Accessibility seems to be taken more seriously than in the past, and I believe that's a huge win for everyone," he says. And for engineers just starting out, his advice is refreshingly low-pressure: "Learn a little at a time, don't get discouraged, and really dive into whatever you're most passionate about."

07 — Common questions

Quick Answers

Honestly, this is a big part of why I love working at this company. Adam's story is VirgoDev's story in miniature: fifteen years of choosing the harder, more deliberate path because it's the one that actually gets a client to their vision — edge cases, audio sync, and all. If your business is bumping up against the limits of a generic tool, that's usually the sign it's time for something built for you.

Ready to talk through what custom software could look like for your business? Book a Discovery Call with me and the team.