What an uncharitable view of an entire profession. Is this really HNs attitude towards UX/designers? That if it weren't for them, we would have perfectly usable and fast apps?
Basically, yeah. Welcome to the struggles of being a late 90s/early 2000s sysadmin. When you were doing your job perfectly people hardly recognized you existed and they wondered why they even keep you on the payroll.
The only time people consciously think about UX/design is when something horrific happens like the most recent Gmail redesign or the Netflix autoplay on hover.
