Designers should become Developers 🚀
As a designer I had an idea. A simple and fancy web app. Easy right? Nope, it took me a few days, but now I can do it again in just a few hours.

I’m not a developer. I’m a UX/UI designer and when I open Sublime, there are only HTML and CSS files I can modify without any worries about damage and of course I’m the best at it ✌. But it is not enough.
What I’ve learned while I tried to create a real-time web application as a designer?
Thanks to my strong desire, I spent more than one day searching for solutions for every single step in my development process. Sometimes I didn’t even know what to search, but I endured and kept Google and Stack Overflow open.

Fill the gap between an idea and your final product.
I have to cooperate with developers to make my stuff work. Every single time. And it is frustrating. I always try to learn new technologies and learn more than I need, but if you want to do the best e.g. in Product Design, you have to transfer the coding process to developers.
You won’t be the best at everything, but you have to try as best as you can.

If you want to create the best product, you have to know what are the possible options. Designers shouldn’t know just about design. We have to learn as much as possible about development, marketing, copywriting, analytics, psychology, company ownership, accounting, product selling, etc.
You have to fail if you want to expand your skills. It’s not easy and there are no shortcuts, just hard work.
Designers have always tried to improve other people’s life with their knowledge. By lacking in skills, experience and research we can’t create products that matter and it will be just another trash on the internet with a short lifespan(until the next hosting invoice comes to your email).

What should I do?
Learn. Because even if you’ve lost everything, your skills(and family) will help you get back up on your feet.
Learn something today and type these keywords into Google:
Front-end:HTML, CSS, Javascript, Node.js, gulp, SCSS, jQuery, CSS4 variables, Flexbox, Livereload, Git, Sublime text 3, Emmet, REST API, Socket.IO, EvennodeDesign:Sketch app, Invision(and Craft), VECTARY, Framer, Principle, Origami Studio, figma, Cinema 4D
What I’ve learned?
My simple web application for tasks is based on Node.js, REST API, MongoDB and Socket.IO and successfully deployed to Evennode hosting with Git commands. Now, after one day of hard work, I can create a simple Node.js app in an hour(s) from scratch and I need zero developers to help me.
You can try it here: http://rest.milangladis.com. In my next post I’ll show you the source code with the description on how the REST API, Socket.IO and deployment work from the designer’s perspective.
Close Dribbble and Behance for a while and start to code. Because designers… should code!
Do you think you are skilled enough? Meet VECTARY!
I’m really proud to be part of the company called VECTARY. We have been creating an online 3D modeling tool for makers, DIY, designers, hobbyists, professionals, teachers, you ;) from scratch, for three years (soon). New challenges push me forward and I learn something new every single day. I’ll write some posts about our vectarylife.com and the best practices of design and code.

Open position for HTML/CSS Developer at VECTARY
If you are looking for a good challenge and you want to be part of one of the most technologically challenging startups in Central Europe, feel free to contact me at gladis@vectary.com. Please help us spread the word. Thanks! :-)

