[IxDA Discuss] Am I a Unicorn?

[Michael Tuminello]

my 2 cents - wait and keep learning.  I don't think having both  
benefits you until you are at a certain level in both disciplines.   
There are definitely jobs out there for people who can do both, but  
they are not common because it is a harder combination of skills to  
find.

if you're not already coding on the GUI side, obviously it makes  
sense to concentrate your coding efforts on that side of things.    
(flash, js/html/css, swing, qt...)

Michael


On Nov 6, 2006, at 3:48 PM, Daniel Weese wrote:

> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted  
> material.]
>
> While interviewing over the last 2 months, I came to realize that  
> "Developer" and "Designer" have nothing in common but the letter D.  
> I interviewed at several places in Nashville, and each time I took  
> along some examples of my design work, as well as an interaction  
> design document I had done on a project. Everyone loved the work  
> and the detail, but they all said the same thing. They basically  
> code by the seat of their pants and fix it as they go along, or fix  
> it after the users complain when it hits the market.  I tried to  
> explain to them that some design work up front might cut down on  
> rewriting all that code, and that alienating your user base from  
> day one was a poor approach, but they prefer to give the appearance  
> of progress to the bosses by them all typing away at their desks. I  
> finally had to take a job at a company that likes my design  
> thinking, but still operates a code-as-you-go shop. I came to  
> realize that a developer/designer is a difficult thing to sell in  
> this ar
>  ea. I'm
>  hoping to slowly blend design into the next iteration of this  
> product. We'll see how it goes.
>
> For future interviews, how do you balance and sell the need for  
> design with the need for the executives to feel like they're  
> getting their money's worth from the developers? I feel somewhat  
> like a hybrid in the software world. I don't have the IxD  
> experience that you all do, but I'm not just a coder typing away  
> without a care for what the user sees.
>
> A frustrated developer,
>
> Dan Weese
> _