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I think there is simply too much stuff to know about in both coding and design. There is simply not enough not time to become really knowledgable in both. Howe

I think there is simply too much stuff to know about in both coding and design. There is simply not enough not time to become really knowledgable in both. However, I am not sure if you really need to be super knowledgeable to benefit from knowing both sides of the fence. I’m sure it’s possible to become really good at a subset of coding and design. By the way: these are just my musings. I’m very early in my career myself. Personally I’m aiming to become effective at programming relating to the user interface of things, and design wise I focus my efforts on interaction design, information architecture and visual design. I want to learn more than what I just mentioned, but this I what I aim to be my core.

guynamedloren 14y ago
> There is simply not enough not time to become really knowledgable in both. Please elaborate. Humans live a very long time. Are you suggesting that design and code evolves so quickly that it is impossible to keep up?
- TorbjornLunde 14y ago
  Upon further reflection I don’t think it’s impossible, but I still think it’s probably very difficult. Both design and coding are both huge fields. I am not merely talking about becoming a good designer and developer at once, but becoming one with a lot of knowledge in both. Just take the long lists of things that that relate to each field: Design: interaction design, information architecture, illustration, visual design, interface design, user testing, typography, color theory, composition, accessibility, different design processes, brainstorming techniques, using grid systems, cognitive psychology, sketching Coding: HTML/CSS, various programming languages ranging from low level to highly abstracted, various libraries, understanding of good software architecture, algorithms, maths, understanding how computers work, understanding data structures There is probably more stuff I forgot to mention. As I wrote in my previous post: I think the key is to choose a subset of both sides.
  - Kaizyn 14y ago
    Do you suppose that medieval master craftsmen had to pick and choose between being very good at using specialized tools to make things and being very good at knowing about the 'human factors' that go into making an object appropriate and desirable to people? How is this any different? On one hand, you have a set of tools along with a craft of making things with those tools. On the other, you have a set of skills that help you determine the necessary characteristics of the crafted artifact so that it is pleasing to its end user.
- rdavl 14y ago
  Saying that humans live a very long time is quite relative. Compared to what? A butterfly or a solar system? > An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which > can be made, in a narrow field. - Niels Bohr I don't think most people can be experts in couple of things, as it requires too much time to be expert in at least one of them (but there are always an exceptions). I agree it is good to know a lot of things but I doubt one can be master of all trades. These days even car mechanics get specialized for a brand of cars. In area of web design there is a myriad of technologies included in the process of developing a web site or an application. There is HTML/CSS frontend, there are server side apps (in all kinds of languages), there are couple of web servers, there are few platforms on which those web servers run, and there is a database layer. You can be an expert in any of these, but hardly all of them, since most of these are generic terms. What kind of database? There are experts for Oracle, there are experts for Postgres, experts for MSSQL etc... Then there are those who excel in maintaining web servers either nginx or apache or IIS etc, there are those who are experts in node.js there are experts in Django. And you could go deeper and deeper still. And this is just a development part, if you put graphics design into picture there are wast number of options from which to choose that you can be expert in. But do keep in mind I am talking about being an expert, you can have sufficient knowledge in HTML/CSS/Server side apps/Web servers/Databases to build a web site but you will hardly ever be expert in all of them. Maybe I am wrong, but I do agree that it is near impossible to be expert in couple of things.
adrianhoward 14y ago
I think there is simply too much stuff to know about in both coding and design. There is simply not enough not time to become really knowledgable in both. It's actually "worse" than that. It's pretty impossible to be expert in one field. I don't know anybody who is expert in, for example, embedded development and game development and back-end web development. I don't know anybody who is expert in, for example, font design and user testing and icon design. Yet developers and designers can be successful by picking subsets of "design" and "development" to be expert in. There is nothing stopping folk being expert in subsets of "design" and "development" - apart from the notion some people seem to have that one skill set interferes with the other.

guynamedloren 14y ago

> There is simply not enough not time to become really knowledgable in both. Please elaborate. Humans live a very long time. Are you suggesting that design and code evolves so quickly that it is impossible to keep up?

TorbjornLunde 14y ago
Upon further reflection I don’t think it’s impossible, but I still think it’s probably very difficult. Both design and coding are both huge fields. I am not merely talking about becoming a good designer and developer at once, but becoming one with a lot of knowledge in both. Just take the long lists of things that that relate to each field: Design: interaction design, information architecture, illustration, visual design, interface design, user testing, typography, color theory, composition, accessibility, different design processes, brainstorming techniques, using grid systems, cognitive psychology, sketching Coding: HTML/CSS, various programming languages ranging from low level to highly abstracted, various libraries, understanding of good software architecture, algorithms, maths, understanding how computers work, understanding data structures There is probably more stuff I forgot to mention. As I wrote in my previous post: I think the key is to choose a subset of both sides.
- Kaizyn 14y ago
  Do you suppose that medieval master craftsmen had to pick and choose between being very good at using specialized tools to make things and being very good at knowing about the 'human factors' that go into making an object appropriate and desirable to people? How is this any different? On one hand, you have a set of tools along with a craft of making things with those tools. On the other, you have a set of skills that help you determine the necessary characteristics of the crafted artifact so that it is pleasing to its end user.
rdavl 14y ago
Saying that humans live a very long time is quite relative. Compared to what? A butterfly or a solar system? > An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which > can be made, in a narrow field. - Niels Bohr I don't think most people can be experts in couple of things, as it requires too much time to be expert in at least one of them (but there are always an exceptions). I agree it is good to know a lot of things but I doubt one can be master of all trades. These days even car mechanics get specialized for a brand of cars. In area of web design there is a myriad of technologies included in the process of developing a web site or an application. There is HTML/CSS frontend, there are server side apps (in all kinds of languages), there are couple of web servers, there are few platforms on which those web servers run, and there is a database layer. You can be an expert in any of these, but hardly all of them, since most of these are generic terms. What kind of database? There are experts for Oracle, there are experts for Postgres, experts for MSSQL etc... Then there are those who excel in maintaining web servers either nginx or apache or IIS etc, there are those who are experts in node.js there are experts in Django. And you could go deeper and deeper still. And this is just a development part, if you put graphics design into picture there are wast number of options from which to choose that you can be expert in. But do keep in mind I am talking about being an expert, you can have sufficient knowledge in HTML/CSS/Server side apps/Web servers/Databases to build a web site but you will hardly ever be expert in all of them. Maybe I am wrong, but I do agree that it is near impossible to be expert in couple of things.

adrianhoward 14y ago

I think there is simply too much stuff to know about in both coding and design. There is simply not enough not time to become really knowledgable in both. It's actually "worse" than that. It's pretty impossible to be expert in one field. I don't know anybody who is expert in, for example, embedded development and game development and back-end web development. I don't know anybody who is expert in, for example, font design and user testing and icon design. Yet developers and designers can be successful by picking subsets of "design" and "development" to be expert in. There is nothing stopping folk being expert in subsets of "design" and "development" - apart from the notion some people seem to have that one skill set interferes with the other.