A product is more than just software. Every feature, bug fix, and release comes from a team that cares about the code, the product, and the people who use it. At SaaSJet, we want you to meet the team behind AI Apps Builder. First up is Oleh Danylevych, the developer who has been involved from the very first idea to the first line of code.
How would you describe yourself as a developer? What kinds of problems do you naturally like to solve?
I don’t like bragging, but I’d say I’m very diligent and pretty demanding when it comes to my own results. I enjoy tackling problems I’ve never dealt with before: integrating a payment system, moving to an agentic execution mode, all kinds of integrations. I remember when we were building a meeting assistant… oh boy, that one gave me a few grey hairs — but those “multi-star difficulty” tasks are exactly the ones I love.
How did you get started in software development? Did you always know this was the path you wanted to take?
Oh, this story is actually pretty unusual. I once dreamed of becoming a dentist, but life landed me in Computer Science. I was even a little relieved, because I thought I’d have to talk to people less (spoiler: not true — there’s never a shortage of meetings here). At first I wanted to work in game dev, but it’s really hard to find a job as a junior developer. Then I was offered a Data Scientist role at SaaSJet, and that was it. Over almost two years I reskilled into an AI Engineer. So my path has been, I think, a pretty cool one.
Before AI Apps Builder, what was your typical day-to-day as a developer at SaaSJet?
All kinds of tasks: working with data, integrating LLMs into applications, taking shots at building a startup. There wasn’t one single thing I’d sit on for years — it was a lot of different tasks.
When the idea for AI Apps Builder came from the CEO, what was your first reaction? Did you believe it was buildable?
“Oh, yes” — that was my answer to that question. And as for whether I believed it could be built — well, if I hadn’t believed it, I wouldn’t have taken it on.
At what point did it stop feeling like “their idea” and start feeling like yours?
I remember the first demo session with AI Apps Builder, back when it was still called Forge Apps Generator. That was the key moment — when I realized we were building something genuinely cool.
How did you handle the pressure of building something that had never been done in this way before?
Honestly — I didn’t, really. The path our team is carving out is a pioneer’s path, and yes, it’s scary, it’s thorny, there are plenty of problems along the way — but we keep moving forward, even if it’s in small steps.
What does it feel like to be the person who takes a vision and figures out how to actually make it exist?
I don’t know how parents feel when their child is born… but let me share a little secret: on our team we call AI Apps Builder “the little one.” So I think it feels like the moment your child says their first word, or takes their first step.
You’ve been with this product from the very first line of code. How do you describe your relationship with it now?
I love this product — it’s my child, growing up and bringing joy to users. And yes, I get really scared when it goes down, and really happy when users enjoy working with it.
Is there a version or moment in the product’s history that makes you especially proud, maybe something small that only you would notice?
It’s probably the move to agentic mode — that’s truly what gave us an enormous foundation to build on.
When something breaks or a user reports a problem, how does that feel personally?
Like I said, I treat this product like a child. Are parents happy when they get called into school over their kid’s behavior? Probably not. It’s the same with bugs — getting them is really unpleasant, but it’s part of life. Whoever never made a mistake never did anything.
This was a big technical challenge early in your career. Did you ever feel like someone with more experience should have been doing it instead?
Yes, I have this inner critic that says exactly that all the time. And yes, I understand that maybe someone more experienced would have handled it much better — but they trusted me with it, and that’s an honor in itself, to be at the forefront.
What does “success” look like to you for AI Apps Builder — not in metrics, but in terms of what you hope it changes for people?
I believe AI Apps Builder will be useful to every Jira user — it can change the whole approach to building custom apps for Atlassian. I think that’s the point where I’ll be able to say we’ve succeeded.
What specific courses, documentation, tools, or communities helped you most during development? Anything you’d directly recommend?
Oh… well, I can recommend the courses by Eden Marco — awesome guy. Also the incredible company Anthropic, with their free guides on YouTube and their own resources.
Were there any workshops, talks, or other developers’ experiences that influenced how you approached the build?
Eden Marco again. Also the developers at our company, who aren’t afraid to experiment with AI — I consulted with them on some of the technologies.
If a junior developer came to you today and said, “I have something hard to build, and I don’t know where to start,” what’s the first thing you’d tell them?
“Did you ask Claude?” And the next thing — don’t worry.
What do you do when you’re not coding? Is there anything outside of work that influenced how you think about building products?
In my free time I love simple, down-to-earth things: collecting stones, potting plants, walking my dog. Together with a friend I founded a company called Nox — it’s built on our shared values, so building products isn’t just work for me, it’s something I live by outside the office too.
I’m also a big dreamer. My biggest dream is to create a farm with golden retrievers where children with anxiety could come to visit. The idea is simple: spending time with gentle dogs calms you down, teaches you to trust and to just be “here and now.” A child who’s afraid of the world gradually learns to relax next to a dog like that — and they carry that experience with them. I want to build a place where that happens naturally.
I draw most of my inspiration from nature — that’s where most of my ideas about how to build products come from. I live in Ternopil, and we have a lake with a rocky shore. One day I was walking by and saw a flower that had pushed its way right through the stones. A place where nothing should be able to grow — and yet it does. To me, that’s the essence of a good product: finding a way to give life where everyone else only sees an obstacle. Nature constantly tosses out metaphors like that, and I’ve learned to notice them.
Thank you, Oleh, for sharing your story so openly. We hope that after reading this conversation, people will see AI Apps Builder in a new way—not just as a product, but as something made by someone who truly cares about its users.
Now it’s your turn. Give AI Apps Builder a try and create something yourself.
