Chapter 11 – Developers Will Get You More Jobs Than Designers

A quick search on job boards usually shows four to eight times as many positions for developers than for designers. Developers are constantly in demand, in greater quantities, in a more diverse set of companies. As mentioned in a previous chapter, if a company has only room to hire a few employees, it’s prudent to bring in a developer first.

Also discussed in previous chapters was the fact there are many reasons to endear yourself to your developers:

 

• Design is a service, so you should serve the developers.
• Success hinges on a great functional product actually being built.
• If you build trust and camaraderie, they will fight to make your designs a reality.

What’s amazing, though, is that this service, camaraderie, and trust that you now naturally pursue has a powerful auxiliary effect on your career. Namely, it’s a networking effect that goes far and wide through the industry.

Given the vast and deep demand for developers, it’s not uncommon for a good number of your coworkers to depart within a couple of years of you working with them. They’ll fan out to any number of interesting companies as they continue their own career. When inevitably one of those companies needs to hire a designer, you suddenly have an advocate on the inside vouching for how helpful you were, how you stayed late, how you made their life easier, and how you strove to make the project better.

As someone in charge of hiring, would you prefer to rip through one hundred similar portfolios and resumes, or go with a trusted colleague’s recommendation? (Spoiler: it’s the recommendation every time.)

This might sound like Networking 101, but the subtle shift here is the focus on the developers, serving them well, and not focusing on designers.

NOTE: Please also network with designers. There will be some design organizations that will not be looking for developer recommendations.

What I’m suggesting here is that your connection with developers spreads a wider net where there is less design competition for you. In a designer network, there are—surprise!—a lot of designers you’ll be competing with. One designer will mention there is a design position open at their firm, and their network of one hundred designers all become potential candidates. If you are a trusted designer amongst a network of developers, you’ll have far less resistance to getting the endorsement.

It’s also important to think about the numbers. In most organizations there will be five to ten designers for twenty to one hundred developers (or more). If you are able to consistently garner the adoration and respect of that part of the organization, that is a potentially massive network of in-demand talent to sing your virtues to new opportunities.

Serving developers and making their lives easier is the right thing to do. But realize its power in creating a steady stream of potential work as you’ve shown your value, gained trust, and created a desire to pull you along with talented developers.