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Who is the UI Developer?

Project Management

Apr 16, 2015 - 3 minute read

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Anna Drezner
Who am I? Someone who is still looking for new ideas and solutions. One of my life goal is to create easier and more friendly IT world experience for the common user. At Objectivity I work as a UI Developer and every day I try doing my best in connecting art with technology. Let me introduce to you my piece of UI Developer’s world.
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2988 HC Digital Transformation 476X381

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The UI developer is a hybrid.

He or she is:

  • a web developer,
  • a web designer
  • basic user experience specialist

who-is-the-ui-hybridMany of you could think 3 in 1, however one UI developer cannot replace all these people. It is more like a bridge between different roles making everybody’s work easier and faster. Sometimes the UI developer can be perfect replacement for one of the roles (but not all three).

who-is-the-ui-skills-chart

If we look closer at the role of ideal UI developer (see patchwork image above), we can see that it consists of four pieces taken from skills of other roles:

  • Excellent knowledge of HTML, CSS, preprocessors like LESS, Bootstrap, JS Frameworks, JQuery, etc. This is just a small piece taken from a true DEV rock start, mastah, guru, ninja! A tiny fragment from developer who knows everything about development and coding.
  • Fluent usage of Photoshop, creation of beautiful graphical layouts and knowledge about trends in web designing. This piece is from skills’ chart of greatest Graphic Designer.
  • Basic knowledge of UX, ability to create mockups, knowledge about responsive design rules and trends in mobile devices. Taken from User eXperience Specialist role.
  • An individual skills characteristic to given person. For example advanced knowledge of JavaScript frameworks or deep familiarization with graphical tools like Illustrator.

How it all started?

A few weeks ago I finished internal campaign in Objectivity, where I explained who the UI developer is and why it is the best friend of classical developer. Since then I’ve been notified that those who missed my presentation have tried to find more information about the role on their own. That’s why I decided to air my views here. This way you can easily reread description at any time or pass it to someone else.

When I noticed the problem with recognition and understanding of UI role in our company, I decided to do a small research. I asked classical developer the following question:

Who is the UI developer?

And I got the answer: “The UI is a kind of graphic designer. He or she prepares nice looking layouts of applications”.

UI developer is the best friend of classical developer

Anna Drezner, UI Developer at Objectivity

Hmmm… That’s ok. Next I went to the graphic designer and asked him the same. Do you know what he said? “The UI and UX are the same specialists, aren’t they? When you type the word ‘UI’ in the job offers’ browser you will see many offers for UI/UX, so it has to be the same! There is no difference.”

Although it is not totally true, it shows inconsistency of role understanding. I thought that perhaps UX specialist will enlighten me more. Here is what I heard: “In my opinion the UI is a developer. Many times I saw when UIs are coding.

To summarize: Three people. Three different opinions. And that’s how I came up with hybrid skills’ chart. I hope that the role is clear now.

If you have any questions about the work of the UI Developers at Objectivity, please do not hesitate to comment below or contact me via email

2988 HC Digital Transformation 476X381
Anna Drezner
Who am I? Someone who is still looking for new ideas and solutions. One of my life goal is to create easier and more friendly IT world experience for the common user. At Objectivity I work as a UI Developer and every day I try doing my best in connecting art with technology. Let me introduce to you my piece of UI Developer’s world.
See all Anna's posts

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