What is the difference between an n8n workflow and a Claude skill made with Claude code, and what are the pros and cons of each?
The main difference between n8n workflows and Claude skills is that n8n is visual while Claude skills are written in text. People who learn visually often struggle with Claude because they can't see the whole workflow on a canvas. n8n is procedural and requires dragging and dropping nodes, unless you use its AI tool, which is still more manual than Claude, where you can simply tell it to build a workflow and it does a good job. This gives you both the ability to build and visualize the workflow. Some people wonder why I still recommend visual tools like n8n when Claude can be faster; while Claude is faster, you may end up with a bunch of things you don't understand. Building fast is great, but you need to understand the workflow. n8n, as a visual drag‑and‑drop builder, is already fast—what used to take weeks can now be done in 30 minutes. I prefer spending 30 minutes to understand the workflow rather than 5 minutes and not understand it, because later I’ll spend extra time figuring out what I built. So, if n8n works for you, keep using it. No problem with that.
Absolutely. There are a lot of people who want n8n right now, especially on job platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, and so on. There is less of a reason not to learn it than there is a reason to learn it. If you learn it, you immediately have access to several thousand jobs—mostly gig work—posted on these platforms that you otherwise wouldn't have access to. There's really no reason not to know a little bit of this drag-and-drop stuff, because the companies currently using n8n, Make, Zapier, and these other platforms all really want to modernize. If you can get your foot in the door with some cursory knowledge of n8n, which you can learn in five to ten hours watching my YouTube videos, then you're the sort of person who can help not only with their current n8n needs—maybe maintaining an automation, upgrading, or building a new one—but also literally transitioning them to the future, which will include always-on agents, something like cloud routines, and so on.
Yes, I still recommend learning tools like Make and N8N. The simplest way to get work as a total newbie is to sign up on platforms like Upwork and apply for jobs that require those tools. Learning N8N instantly opens a massive pool of jobs—there are dozens posted every hour. The same goes for Make.com, and even Claude Code has a market. Once you know the basics, you can pitch N8N, Make, or any other automation in your proposals. It doesn’t take long to become fluent; a 4‑to‑6‑hour course can get you up to speed. Think of it like unlocking new areas in a video game—the fog of war lifts after you spend a few hours studying the visual workflow. These tools are visual, so your brain can grasp them faster than raw code, and they also train you to think in systems, which later helps you prompt AI models like Claude. You don’t need a CS degree—just a few focused hours and you’ll have a marketable skill that feeds directly into AI agency work.
Yes, I recommend you still learn one drag‑and‑drop no‑code platform. Focus on n8n and get to a foundational level of knowledge. Spend four or five hours today, maybe using an accelerator from Maker School, and you’ll be ready to capitalize on job‑platform keywords on Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, etc. You can bootstrap by making more money than you spend on connects, then transition to selling n8n services or Claude code work. Even in a world leaning more toward agentic AI, learning n8n only takes a few hours and gives you a marketable skill that can pay off quickly.
You should definitely get on NAN or another visual platform to show your workflow. If you prefer not to, a stop-gap is to visualize the system with a simple diagram--such as a Mermaid diagram or a workflow chart made with GPT-image--so clients can see how it works. The downside is that these visualizations aren't always consistent or as precise as a true drag-and-drop builder like NAND, where you connect procedural nodes. Nevertheless, I recommend learning both quad code and NAN, because the real advantage lies in the pre-built market for these skills on freelance platforms like Upwork, Freelancer.com, and Fiverr, where clients actively seek people who can deliver visualised automation work.