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Comment by kreek | Hacker News Reader

I'm all for getting developers some design skills and I'm sure the book will help. That said mastering anything takes time. Could you give a designer a Rails for Dummies book and claim "Save thousands by not hiring a developer"?

Update:

I'm a full time developer now but I graduated with a design degree. It took me two years of full time development to become a competent developer. Mostly because when I started out I didn't know what I didn't know.

From time to time I pick up design gigs, but I'm a mediocre designer now, mainly because my skills have atrophied. I obviously have a leg up on my dev colleagues, but that's not saying much! However if I had a startup I would definitely hire a pro designer. They're not really that expensive, think of it this way; you're a developer your time is worth, what $100-150/hr? Spend your time developing and pay a designer $50/hr.

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On paper, it doesn't make any sense. Why should an expensive developer spend time learning cheap tasks? Surely we can hire someone to do it.

But the math doesn't work like that on a team.

The paper value I've seen in my company is a huge reduction in communication overhead. We aren't constantly pinging each other for revisions of this or changes to that. The design expert will set the original design. Design-savvy developers pay more attention to detail, implement designs more thoroughly, and can make small changes perfectly. It doesn't sound like a lot, but these details are exactly what make a great product.

If a designer had a great idea for a simple app, then yes a Rails for Dummies book would suffice I'd say. So why not the other way round?

Also, it's not always the case that a developer has spare money to pay a designer with (the ideal situation). I don't have cash but I do have some spare time in the evenings to work on my businesses.

this is false economy. saving money is not the objective in testing an idea. The objective is to launch the best product you can in the smallest amount of time. mvp. time trumps money - always.

It's like this. I want to fit a new bathroom in my house. I could do it, but it would take me a week, it won't cost me any money. If I hire a plumber, he'll do it in 2 days and charge $500.

Damn, $500? Well my freelance day rate is $250, so I'll just freelance for a couple of days. Net result is I just saved myself 5 days.

I'd say it's sometimes a little risky thinking this way. 1. wage-days are not a good way of measuring things. You don't take into account recurring expenses, taxes and costs of doing business. 2. Spending your own time on something is rarely a loss.

Do your own plumbing while you have a 2-day work drought: you've learned some plumbing.

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