The Fight Between Designers and Software Engineers

When I had the idea of creating a platform that would help people learn technology skills and become successful, I knew it had to be technology-driven.

To do this, I would need to build a team (even though, at then, I only knew graphics design).

I learned how some of these technologies worked to achieve optimal success, and I migrated from graphics to frontend engineering. Later, I practised becoming a backend technologist.

In 2021, I decided to have six people build the startup (instinctHub).

Frontend, backend, UI/UX, motion graphics, marketing and instructor; these sets of guys are crucial to the success of the startup. In fact, they need to love each other if we must build an experience that learners will cherish (check some learners' reviews).

In the whole of this, I noticed unusual quarrels between the frontend and the UX designer. And sometimes, that quarrel always spans to the backend guys as well.

In this post, I will share a bit about each job description, the cause of the constant disagreement and how it can be avoided.

1. What is the role of the UX designer?

Think of any product; these guys lay the foundation. They listen to product briefings and create visual designs that the product team can test before coding starts.

UI/UX designers make sure they understand what the user wants and graphically represent it.

You will often see them use Figma or Adobe XD to get their job done.

2. What is the role of the frontend developer?

After the graphical presentation of a product is ready, the computer still sees them as images and cannot do anything with them.

It is the work of a frontend developer to translate the graphic version into executable code that the machine can read and understand (these create everything you can see on the web pages).

You will often see them write HTML, CSS and Javascript to get their job done.

3. What is the role of the backend developer?

As the name sounds, they are responsible for what happens at the backend of applications.

What users can't see but can experience is primarily the backend engineer's job.

For instance, when you log in to an app, the backend engineer makes sure you have access to the app if you provide the correct credentials.

You will often see them write business logic in programming languages like python, C++, Java, and Ruby to get their job done.

Check our course library to learn any of these skills: skills.instincthub.com

4. Cause of disagreement between designers and software engineers.

Remember earlier I told you the primary job of a UI/UX designer is to put the user first in every decision; this usually comes at a cost.

It means more work for the engineers!

90% of the problem can be seen from perceptions:

Designers feel software engineers don't have design understanding, and on the other hand, software engineers feel designers lack the technical skills to understand what is achievable and what is not.

Because of this, everyone wants their voice heard!

Often, this kind of thinking brings lots of setbacks to the team, and if you are not careful, the result will be a disaster.

5. How to make designers and engineers work cohesively?

There is no blueprint as to how this can be done. However, let us look at some tips that can bring love and understanding to the team.

The first thing every team member needs to have is respect!

If you respect someone, you will be patient enough to hear them out and try to understand what the point they are trying to make.

That person is part of the team. It means the person had gone through the exact job search you went through. The same employment screening you went through to secure the job.

If that's the case, everyone should be respected for their skills (none is easy to obtain).

Secondly, try to understand your ecosystem.

It makes sense if a designer could think like an engineer and an engineer think like a designer.

This will make the job much easier. In addition, it will help to build trust because everyone will have a sense of being understood.

Most importantly, you will be able to use terms in designs and engineering.

All of these specialities have terms and the way they communicate. These soft skills will help build relationships and have a better work experience.

6. Wrapping it up

Product development is like a piece of playing live music. The more the band member understand each other and work together, the higher the harmony and rhythm they will produce.

Hence, learn to understand other people and see ways to speak the language they know.

I hope you learned new ways to get things done efficiently. Leave a comment below and share it with someone that may need it.