DESIGN ENGINEERS

What the @#$%! are they?

Welcome to designengineers.xyz! I'm Branon Eusebio, and I'm a design engineer, design technologist, UX engineer... creative technologist? UI/UX Developer? Maybe I'm actually a frontend engineer? Uhhh okay yeah this is getting confusing.

Truth is - this career is awesome. But it's also really hard to pin down and explain to people (even IN the tech world). Every org uses a different job title, or uses the same named-role completely differently, creating a convoluted landscape for those interested in pursuing this career.

One of the most frequent topics that come up during my mentoring sessions with tech workers is: what IS a design engineer (or its many synonyms) and what do they do?

So I'm starting designengineers.xyz to teach others everything they need to know about this awesome niche. Let's dive right in. OH and btw... πŸ‘‡πŸ½

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

all thoughts are my own

Everything you read on this site is my own personal experience from being in the industry for some time now. While I believe it's all generally accurate, it doesn't mean it's the end-all-be-all ✨

Who we REALLY are

Simply put: we're tech workers with design and code skills. πŸ’…πŸΌ

We run a spectrum of 'designers who can code' to 'engineers with design skills', and everything in between. Some of us identify as engineers, some more as designers, but we all share both skillsets to some degree!

Where you fall on that spectrum can influence what opportunities you have as a design engineer. Will you be a prototyper? A design systems engineer? An accessibility specialist? A little bit of everything? Depends greatly on the porportion of design/code skills you are bringing to the table. More on that below.

We go by many names πŸ¦ΈπŸ»β€β™‚οΈ

We get called all sorts of different things across the industry, with no real method to the madness. But make no mistake - it's all still us πŸ‘‹! Things like:

Design EngineerDesign TechnologistUX EngineerUI EngineerFrontend EngineerCreative TechnologistUX DeveloperUI/UX Developer/EngineerUX PrototyperDesign Systems Engineer...Dare I keep going?

So with all these names and such a wide skillset - what ARE the various workstreams design engineers usually have/own? Let's break it down (πŸ•ΊπŸ») πŸ‘‡πŸ½