

You Should Become A Hybrid Web Developer - ericingram
http://collaborable.com/blog/you-should-become-a-hybrid-developer

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orangewarp
It's interesting to hear about these emerging hybrid niches. Clearly the idea
of hybrid positions extends beyond just art and engineering. It can span
across many different kinds of disciplines: content, instructional design,
business, programming. Those that can cross between these different areas can
really tie together the threads of communication and understanding across
different parts of a project.

That said, I think it's also really crucial for every member to be a
specialist in something. The most productive group dynamics I've been in have
been the ones where each member clearly understands their role and can execute
it with flourish. Most of the talented bright people I know are usually
hybrids in some regard anyway but above all, they are outstanding in a
specific way which the other team members recognize.

If I had to choose between 5 people each with their respective DEPTH of
knowledge and ability vs. 5 hybrids with breadth, I'll take depth in a
heartbeat. Although, it might be cool to have 1 hybrid with excellent
communication skills and 4 specialists!

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ericingram
You make a great point. I was going to title the blog "Hybrid Developer Bridge
the UX Design Gap", which is really what I believe happens, but figured the
title sounded confusing for those who aren't into UX design. It really does
span disciplines, not just web design/programming.

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mtrn
Coding is hard enough. The last projects required design from scratch, so I
did it (and people even kind of liked it, "clean and functional" ;) - but it's
not my first love. So I'm a semi-hybrid.

On the other hand, I used to have a hard time finding graphic designers, who
can think about usability and elegance and can actually implement the thing in
a great and maintainable way. Would welcome these hybrids, really.

(And a last bit: One of the nicer designs I dealt with directly was imagined
and implemented by a perl hacker, hehe.)

