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Had this back and forth recently when job hunting, discussing a potential role at a smaller company. “Designer who can code” and “developer who can design” are likely two quite different people. The former more focused on UX and the latter on craft maybe?

Designers should probably have an understanding of code and how things work in an employment landscape that is increasingly minimizing the role of design.

It doesn't mean you _have_ to, but that's a personal choice. I'd almost always hire a designer with weaker visual skills but an understanding of how products are built than a rockstar visual designer without that understanding.

There's been a few episodes of Dive Club that delved into this. Long story short, it varies from company to company. https://www.dive.club/

Now this has me thinking more… in the classic sense, say “civil” or “mechanical” engineer, they are the ones designing the products, not manufacturing them. Whereas in the tech world, it’s the opposite - “software engineers” are the ones manufacturing based off the plans 🤔

The "designer should code" with a different label, that's right 😦

I kinda just think “engineer” is an over-used buzzword that doesn’t tell me much at all. Everyone calls themselves some sort of engineer these days 😅

I guess designers have been the real engineers all along 😂 (and I say that as a programmer)

Agree. At least a passing understanding of the material you’re working with goes a long way.

This always struck me as an odd debate. Should? What about like, designers can code, if they want, and they find it helpful or interesting.

In my travels, design engineers are usually designers with skills that help non-coding design teams prototype more complex interactions/animations rapidly. Doesn't have to be a designer, but they slant closer to design than engineering on an org chart.

I think of it more the other way, an engineer/developer with strong design skills

Leaning toward that as well. Visual design and product design are so different in many ways. Knowing how things are built from dev perspective is such an advantage for a designer in interfaces and websites

We just brought back the "designer should code" discourse after a hiatus

What do you think a Design Engineer does?

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