Adventures in Unicornism—should designers learn to code
Should designers learn to code? An age-old question, and everyone has their perspective. I believe this is a complex question with a simple summary: while it depends, probably not.
However, what if you are a UXer who already knows how to code—or is motivated to learn? I’ve worked on three projects in the last two years where coding skills turned out to be essential to their success. I have found that programming your own designs can be a real game changer for doing quality work efficiently with tight budgets and schedules, plus keeping technical and design debt low. For some projects, delivering working code is much more productive than delivering pixels.
Join me and we will explore the pros and cons of being a UX designer coding in the context of real projects, plus how having coding skills might affect your career path.
PS: In case you are worried, I never refer to myself as a Unicorn. Ever.