your problem is that you use the word "excellent" but don't bother to define what exactly that means. for example: how about in terms of being an "excellent de

your problem is that you use the word "excellent" but don't bother to define what exactly that means. for example: how about in terms of being an "excellent designer" we say that means something like being a winner in the annual AIGA design competition. and how about as an "excellent coder" we don't mean someone who is just good, or even great -- but someone who has actually contributed something to the field. this could be a new language or crafting the next twitter. so by really embracing what "excellent" means the chances are you won't be in the top 1% of two somewhat different fields. if you want a good example of this from another world think how many rock stars can go on to become oscar winning actors? now can a rock star be an actor -- of course! but it would be a real rare bird for someone to be brilliant at both. so yeah we all LOVE elvis, and his movies were all enjoyable -- but he just wasn't an excellent actor. side note: i'd also dare say that if you're looking at design as being "photoshopping" and at code as being a "code wrangler" you're looking at the production end of each process rather than the planning and/or architecting.