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by eswangren 5145 days ago
Well, no, but I see how what I said may cOme off that way. I gathered that you were a UI guy from statements you made. It seemed to me that you were trivializing programming as a whole by saying things like "do you think anything we do is that difficult?". Well yes, some things we do are terribly difficult and require far more knowledge than what may be gained by reading "teach yourself HTML + JavaScript" for a year.
1 comments

I think we're arguing the same points.

We both seem to agree that your run-of-the-mill Java programmer working for the autozone website is not a complicated position.

We both seem to agree that your run-of-the-mill UI/UX person working for the same autozone website is also not complicated.

I bet you would agree that designing the interface for the first consumer focused touchscreen-only device is something that is very complicated.

Just like I agree that working something that deals with ct scans, ultrasounds, 3d printing, 3d rendering, product delivery and a host of other problems are very complicated.

The real point is that you should know your industry, and yes all of our industries are a little different. If you are working on the Accuvix V20 Medison ultrasound system I personally believe you should know how to turn the thing on, point it, run the scanner, understand the readouts (to a certain degree) as well as understand the inner-workings of the image acquisition and processing. I believe this is just what helps people make more informed decisions. This doesn't mean you suddenly have to be a UI/UX person, it simply pushes you to know the complete lifecycle and have some competency in the product you are working on.

Should you be a UI/UX person? No. Should you know why the UI/UX decisions are being made? Absolutely. Knowing that will help you write a better system, it will also help you bring to light more possibilities.

I mean, would you call Jonathan Ive a "UI guy"?