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Levi Flint
2,451 PointsStudying Design before Dev?
Hey guys. I'm in the web design course here and I'm looking at taking courses w/ Thinkful.com starting in December. I want to become a type of "hybrid designer / developer" so that I can be working on my own entrepreneurial projects and also be applying for jobs as a freelancer. Would you recommend that I keep moving forward with design while I continue to become more and more proficient w/ HTML, CSS, and Javascript on the side? Does this seem like a good plan, or would somebody recommend I do something different. Any advice would be great.
3 Answers
Jacob Bergdahl
29,118 PointsThat's a great question. You can definitely learn the two side by side, but I would recommend moving forward slightly with development first. Make sure that you know the basics of designing in code (be it through HTML/CSS (web), XML (Android) or whatever else you're interested in starting with), so that you can implement the designs that you make, and the decisions that UI developers must make, but don't feel like you have to learn the development side first. You can absolutely learn the two sides simultaneously.
Konrad Pilch
2,435 PointsI tell you in short. In these days a web designer need to know HTML/CSS and JS, maybe not for all jobs, but thats pretty much the standard.
So as a web designer ud need to know these.
Design is a very big skill including coding. I think if you can make quality with the desing and be proficient iwht the code, thats would be super good. Its rare to find a good designer and developer in one person. Usually you need to dedicate a lot of time into one first.
If you started at a young age lets say 16 then when you are 20 you should be able to well, be good at design i believe. I mean lets look at Nick Pettit, he started at 12 i think and hes 24 when he joiinged treehouse, he was* and hes super good in both.
Levi Flint
2,451 PointsAwesome. Thanks, Jacob.
Levi Flint
2,451 PointsLevi Flint
2,451 PointsThanks, Jacob. Can you tell me a bit more about what a "UI Developer" does? I guess I'm trying to put a label on what it is that I'm wanting to 'become' in terms of the skill-set I'm working on developing.
Jacob Bergdahl
29,118 PointsJacob Bergdahl
29,118 PointsA UI developer (User Interface developer) develops the UI. This role can vary a bit, but a UI developer implements the UI in code, and usually the design assets as well. Small companies may not have a dedicated UI developer, while really large companies may have multiple UI developers with different skill sets. Keep in mind that you can be an amazing designer without having any programming skills. There's really no "one" single skill set for these kinds of jobs. Regardless, learning HTML and CSS is easy -- with zero experience, you can reach intermediate level in just a week, so there's no reason in not learning them.
Check out these website for more information: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9700286/whats-the-difference-between-a-frontend-vs-ui-developer http://asinthecity.com/2011/11/10/the-difference-between-a-ux-designer-and-ui-developer/