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in reply to Re: Wed Developers vs. Web Designers
in thread Web Developers vs. Web Designers

I'd have to agree. There is no advantage, really, as people who are skilled in either are in high demand. They have to coöperate or nothing will ever get done.

It's not unlike Architects and Engineers. In some cases, they can do the same things, but when you get down to it, an Architect is typically not going to be able to determine the compressive force acting on a support column to see if it is within acceptable limits. Likewise, it is highly unlikely that an Engineer is going to win any awards for their asthetic contributions.

This duality even exists within the groups themselves. A large project typically has a lead designer and a lead technical, each of which have assistants. As such, the lead in each group is the 'Architect' who set out the parameters, define the objectives, and create a plan, and the others act as 'Engineers' who figure out how to make it happen in a practical sense (i.e. pixels on screen or lines of code).

Strangely, software architects are called Software Engineers, presumably because this looks a lot more impressive on a business card or C.V. Also, in some rare cases, you find an individual who is skilled in both arenas, a one person army. Da Vinci, perhaps?