My opinions on working in UX and Frontend — Part II
This article is part of a two-part analysis that compares my personal experiences of working in UX Design and Frontend Development.
In the first part, I talked about my daily routine and team interactions. And, in the second part, I will be talking about:
- The influence I have in the Final Product
- General business experience
- Career evolution
1. The influence I have in the final product
Working in a technological and creative area, I find it very important to feel that I have some kind of influence on the final product I’m working on. Because, as a worker, this gives me the perception that my knowledge and opinions are valued, which, of course, encourages me to always have a critical view of a problem and always try different solutions.
Having influence or input on a project could mean different things, it could be purely visual, or it could change the way a feature works or even propose entirely new features.
I feel my inputs are usually unattached to the field I’m working on. Since I have good knowledge in both fields, I feel I’m in a good position to balance if a problem can be easily solved with some work on UX or done in development.
While I was working in frontend development, I was in a team where my feedback was valued, because they knew my background in design.
But when I gave comments on possible improvements, the re-work process was not perfect, so it would take a long time to make corrections. This would slow down the process, which was not ideal for any company that wants to be profitable.
The long waiting and the lack of involvement of the development team in the early mockup construction were frustrating, but I can tell that this may not be an issue in a well-organized team, that encourages developer and designer interaction.
However as a UX designer, working often in the early conception of the project, or design phase I have a lot more space and opportunity to possibly change the product.
So, with no surprises, it’s a lot easier to have an impact as a UX designer, in the final product.
Anyways, decisions are not made entirely by me, so I always try to present different options, with the mindset that I feel good about each one of them. Then, I let my teammates or superior give any input they want to give about my work, letting them influence the final product.
So in frontend development, you have a lot fewer opportunities to influence the project and when you do, it may be impossible to implement due to timeline restrictions and because it may lead to too much re-work.
But it’s not impossible. If you find important to your fulfillment in the company, to feel that you influence the project you are working on, make sure you inform your colleagues about it. Then try to encourage the implementation of processes that will improve the relationship and increase the number of interactions between developers and designers (this is an old one) and this will allow frontend developers, to have more influence in the project.
2. General business experience
A project has different stages of development, since the first proposal to delivery.
Working on both fields I found that a frontend developer is more focused on its portion of the project process, and does not have the concern (ideally) about pleasing the client and negotiation timelines and features with him. That I enjoy.
I love the days of work, when I arrive, I know exactly what to do, put my headphones on, write some code or do some mockups for the rest of the day, with no interruption.
So my ideal day of work happens more frequently as a frontend developer. On the other hand as a designer, I work on different stages of the project. I can help to propose, build the mockups and do some re-work alongside the developers.
Working on the different stages of the project is one of the things that allows me, as a UX designer to have such an influence on a project from start to finish. But, a quick thing you need to know about me… I’m not very good with words.
I’m good designing, I’m good coding, I’m a good organizer, but for some reason organizing my thoughts into a speech does not come naturally to me.
Presentations were never my strong suit unless I prepared them very well. Even reporting to my superior, as I talked before, was not such a straight forward task to me, so I had to work on the meeting beforehand.
So, as I was working as a UX Designer, eventually I had to have some contact with the client, present my work of months and do it in a foreign language. Let’s say it was not my favorite part of the job.
In the end, most of my meetings go pretty well and I recognize that, because I had to do so many of them, it made me a better communicator and practice on something than I’m not the best at. And that is great!
Every time, I take less and less time to organize my thoughts and prepare a presentation.
Even though I don’t like client meetings, I’m looking forward to participating in one of them. I find that client meetings to be like going to the gym, I don’t like it very much, I know it will be good for me, every time I go I get better at it, an hour before I mentally avoid going and when I go, it’s not so bad.
In the end, I think that having these client meetings a very important skill and experience to have, considering what I want to do in the future. I know I don’t want to be the first line of contact with the client, but I know I want to work in this area and eventually having to talk to a client directly, may be inevitable.
So I may as well practice it.
3. Career Evolution
I wanted to point out, that as career evolution, I’m not considering how you move up in the career ranks, but how much I’m learning in the experience. This includes new skills, experiences, fields, organizational capabilities, etc.
I find this important, because, for me, it’s very fulfilling in a job, realizing that I am evolving and I’m not doing always the same thing every day, without learning anything new.
In UX design, I find that the growth career-wise to be very fast at the beginning. I think that most design skills, can be broadly learned and quickly applied to work.
However you can learn something, but never truly master it, so after this rapid growth the learning curve slows down a lot. Of course, being a master is what truly differentiates a GOOD designer from any designer.
In frontend development, I find the growth to be a mix of steady growth and a staircase. You grow steadily as you gain experience and when you learn a new skill you improve significantly. But I also think it’s harder to acquire a new skill. This because, the amount of knowledge about a new technology that you need to know, to apply it to your work, it’s a lot bigger than in design.
One of the things that motivate me in the field of front-end development, is that I think there is no limit of stairs when it comes to your improvement. There is always be a new thing to learn as technology is always evolving, and I find this amazing!
As you can tell, in this case, I find frontend to be more fulfilling and motivating to improve long term.
So… Who wins the Fight?
Both of my two experiences, I found a striking division between de two areas, development and design, that for a person like me, with an interest in both, it’s a bit conflicting having both parts so disconnected, even in the way the work is organized.
As a designer, I know developers can give important input to the construction and idealization of a mockup and as a frontend developer, I know how a designer can find a solution to a problem much more easily, without overcomplicating it.
The main issues I found as a UX designer is that I want to be able to be part of a team and, as a frontend, have a chance the influence the design process and final product. Both these problems could be, partially solved, if UX is more incorporated inside the development team.
, To be honest, I can see myself working on both and be happy. But if I could choose my ideal career, I would work on frontend development with a leg on UX design.
This concludes my thoughts on working in both fields. I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading.
