Relation between web design, interface design and web development in the professional world ?

Question

Hello,
I'm a student from france, and I'm passionated by building websites.
I don't care if it's about interface design, web design or web development, I love them all!

Although these domains are very related to each other, the educational world seems to make a huge difference between them so there are no studies having all of them (in France). Most are completely separated, some treat mostly one, and a little bit of the other ones.

I chose to go for the design side, as I already learned a lot of development by my self. (PHP - MYSQL - HTML - CSS - JAVASCRIPT)

What I would like to know is how this is in the professional word. Are they "separated" like this, or can you do a little bit of all ?
And also, who do they look/recruit for more ? Designers, developers or people that do both ?

Thanks ahead,
Daan

Answer 1

I have been self-employed for seven years now, doing both development and interface design a lot. I have no formal education in any of the fields and been a self-learner. Looking back, if I knew then what I know today, I might have taken a different path and studied at least some Computer Science - it might have saved me some lessons I had to learn very painfully "in the field". On the other hand, studying would have bored me to death :) And I gained a lot of practical experience this way, so it probably evens out.

My personal experience has been that the real bread is in Web development. Always easy to get jobs, and good money. Not that pure designers starve, but it's my impression that it's harder to come by jobs for them. Developers have the great advantage that their work is perceived as more important in daily work, and it's easier to measure cost and benefit.

Learning PHP, SQL and Javascript on your own is great, but I always recommend to get a bit into computer science theory as well, and maybe also do some work with a more structured and strict language than PHP. PHP is great but it's not a good programming teacher IMO.

Strict languages like Java, C++, C# or Delphi will encourage or enforce the use of programming patterns, using proper declarations, dealing with memory usage, enforce the use of OOP and so on. I started programming with Pascal and Delphi, and while I don't use these languages in everyday work anymore, they taught me a lot of structure and discipline I am still thankful for.

Having mastered a strict language that allows no mistakes (as good ol' PHP does) to some extent is really, really useful on the long run.

I can't say much about what the academic world has to offer but I'm sure there have to be combined courses and programs that teach both high-level design and development. I have seen such offers in Germany, and it can't be that different in France. Be sure to take a good look around!

Answer 2

It depends a lot on your organization. Some places (typically bigger companies) will have well-defined roles; these roles may be so strict that venturing outside of them might be seen as stepping on toes and frowned upon.

At other place (especially smaller companies), having many skills is a necessity. You may very well be the only technical person on a very small project, so being able to both program & design is critical for a successful & attractive project.

At this early point in your career, you have three options: specialize in programming, specialize in design, or have a mix between the two. The important thing to understand is that there are opportunities for great success no matter which route you choose. One route may be somewhat easier depending on your environment: for example, if there is a strong startup / entrepreneurial culture in your area then you'll have greater luck as a multi-skilled worker. However, the world is big enough that there's a niche for you to fill somewhere.

It matters far more what you do with your career than the specific path you take. Whatever you choose, do it well!

Answer 3

One other aspect that I'd like to cover: even if you decide to specialize in one particular area, it's almost always a good thing to branch out even just a bit into other related areas:

• If there's something small / quick / simple in your project that needs doing but isn't in your specific area, you can still have a hope of doing it yourself. Without this skill, you'll have to spend time finding someone else to do it for you, and that can be wasteful / expensive. (But be careful with stepping on others' toes, as I mentioned in my other answer).
• In a similar vein, you can potentially take on projects that wouldn't be viable if you had to hire on a subcontractor (for real pay). For example: I am a developer, and I can build my own software products with no investment other than my time. I am a good enough designer that I can (just barely) not make a horrible mess of the graphic design for my own products. If I couldn't do design at all, then I'd have to pay someone to do it for me; that means I'm now investing both cash and time. That may be a bigger risk than I'm willing to take; being able to do it myself means that there's more opportunity.
  • On the other hand, do not get too carried away with this; you have to know when to hand a task over to the specialists to do a better job than you.
• If you do need to interact with other specialists in other fields (and you will at some point), you'll be able to more easily understand and communicate with them if you know their language. (You may also be able to tell when they are telling lies or talking nonsense; there's lots of bad "specialists" in any industry)
• Sometimes it's nice to get a change of pace from your regular duties. Doing front-end user interface work is a nice change of pace from back-end coding all day long.
• Also, it's good to get your feet wet in other areas to see if you might enjoy them more than what you've chosen. No decision is final; you may find yourself changing career paths at some point.

Answer 4

Clueless management in professional companies that aren't aware of the kind of work they want done seem to dominate here in North America, and the educational facilities here don't help them out at all.

To illustrate, I can take "web development programs" a three separate post-secondaries around here, and each will give me a different certification. The University of Victoria will issue me a Diploma of Engineering, Vancouver Island University will give me a Diploma of Arts and Sciences, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology will allow me to have a Diploma of Computing Science, all for very similar coursework.

Looking for jobs around here results in similar issues. I've interviewed with people who think that being a "web site guy" somehow qualifies me to install and configure servers, change other people's websites, design logos or other online marketing materials, or in one case even hack into a competitor's office computer and destroy the contents! They're all computer stuff, right?

I guess the bottom line is that while we as programmers and so forth are aware of the differences between the different disciplines that make up the broad field of web development, few professional positions cater well to those divisions. The only exceptions I've seen so far are firms solely dedicated to web development and/or hosting, who usually seem to understand that visual design is a very different beast from code, and different yet again from actually administering a live site.