[CTartist&musician]

Originally Posted by Stylo

I've never hired a digital designer or art director on their code expertise.

That is correct because you need both the design and some programming. Your place may be an exception to the rule.

Here is what the OP should do. Start looking at ads in this area for website jobs and see what is required. It is as easy as that. You will get a dose of reality very quick.

A small percentage of jobs may be as you claim but if I were moving across country I would want to have all the tools for the biggest percentage of jobs available. Here is what I will compare it to. You can become a nurse with an associates degree but there are not a lot of jobs for nurses with associates degrees. In this tight market you would need a bachelor's degree to have the best change of getting a nursing job.

It is something along thost lines. It is not impossible but very difficult because there are designers who do have it all and that is the reality RIGHT NOW. Who do you think will get the job in this tight economy?

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by CTartist&musician

That is correct because you need both the design and some programming. Your place may be an exception to the rule.

This is not an area where you can prove me wrong. I've worked at the largest agencies in CT. I'm not going to name names for privacy reasons. I also have friends at most of the large agencies in the state, and many agencies in NY: BBDO, DDB, Organic, Big Spaceship. Their designers are designers. They aren't coding. There's also user experience design, which needs an understanding of code but not actual coding on the job.

How do you think large scale projects get done? If you divide roles up where designers have to code, you'll get low quality results and no efficiency. I've been working on $150,000-$500,000 projects on multi-million dollar retainers my whole career.

Designers in digital need to understand code and understand working knowledge of technologies, but aren't expected to actually code.

Many of the largest agencies in the state have disparate art director jobs for digital. Just a quick search reveals Catapult, Ryan Partnership, and Primacy are hiring designers and there is no mention of code ability in the job listing. Granted, the Primacy position is in NYC, but their Hartford area office does hire occasionally too. I recently switched agencies, and we do it the same way: although we divide it into: art directors/designers (strict design with code/tech knowledge, don't code on job), user experience designers (IA/UX designers, no code necessary but must understand it), creative technologists (front-end programmers with some design skill), front-end developers, and back-end developers. Some front-end developers know a little back-end and vice versa. This is how most serious digital agencies are operating.

Look at job listings at any of the top digital agencies right now and you'll see the same thing. Look at Big Spaceship, Huge, RGA, Organic, etc. You'll see design divided from development.

The only exception to this was maybe 6 years ago where it was expected that designers know some Flash. Those days are long gone.

If you're talking about small agencies, then yes - they're probably going to look for strictly someone that can "do it all". But that's why many small agencies struggle with quality.

[CTartist&musician]

Originally Posted by Stylo

I've never hired a digital designer or art director on their code expertise.

It the job you hire for an overall Creative Director (both print and web) or a job exclusively as a website designer, that does make a differce also.

The OP is asking about a website designer job, at least that is how I understand it.

This is from my personal experience with my artist friends who do/did website who are VERY GOOD designers , and know the front end programs. They are having a hard time competing with the young kids who frankly have it all now, good design and programming skills.

Here is a case in point right in my family. My husband has a nephew that went to college about 10 years ago for graphic arts and he is a very good artist and designer. He learned all the front basic website programs. He was in a "print" graphic job but he wanted to get a job doing websites to advance his career. He had to go back to school to learn more website programs to get a job doing websites. And he has.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by CTartist&musician

It the job you hire for an overall Creative Director (both print and web) or a job exclusively as a website designer, that does make a differce also.

The OP is asking about a website designer job, at least that is how I understand it.

This is from my personal experience with my artist friends who do/did website you are VERY GOOD designers , and know the front end programs. They are having a hard time competing with the young kids who frankly have it all now, good design and programming skills.

Here is a case in point right in my family. My husband has a nephew that went to college about 10 years ago for graphic arts and he is a very good artist and designer. He learned all the front basic website programs. He was in a "print" graphic job but he wanted to get a job doing websites to advance his career. He had to go back to school to learn more website programs to get a job doing websites. And he has.

1. No, at the larger agencies I've worked at, they've either been 100% digital OR there's separate creative directors for print and digital. "Web" is not a term used in the industry anymore. Digital encompasses more than websites.
2. Even art director/entry-level designer jobs do not require coding.
3. What do you mean by front-end programs? Most developers use a tool to write code in, like Dreamweaver, Sublime Text, etc. But that's just a "wrapper" for you to write different languages in. Front-end knowledge isn't "programs", it's languages/frameworks.
4. You hit the nail on the head with the young kids factor. This industry is not kind to age. I do know a few older writers that have managed to stay relevant, but design is very difficult. Most older designers do not keep up with newer trends, and even if they do - it's assumed they don't. It's a very age-ist industry, marketing. All the employees I've hired were in their 20's, when I myself was in my late 20's. I just turned 30 and I know that those that aren't already in managerial positions by their late 30's are in trouble. You really need to be in a creative director/leadership role by then.
5. None of the younger people I've hired as designers at any agency have been super competent in code. I've hired almost a dozen designers in the last 5 years. They know a little here and there, at most. The programmers I've hired are the same, they "get" design but they're not designers. It's extremely, extremely hard to find someone TRULY good in both. You'll get a lot that are mediocre in one or the other. That's why SERIOUS agencies divide roles.
6. Even younger print designers have a tough time making the switch. Digital design is not easy, irrespective of coding.

[mlassoff]

I think you're both correct to a degree. Yes, larger agencies divide their workload and often visual design, user experience, back end coding, front end coding, etc, are accomplished by different people or teams, it's still important for strict designers to have some concept of the code requirements to insure that are creating designs that can be easily translated in to code. Fair?

Many of the posts for graphic designers-- whom don't all do agency work-- require both design and coding experience. The OP would have more opportunities if s/he understood at least front end coding-- HTML/CSS/Javascript. Unless your portfolio is of large agency quality, you aren't going to be doing design alone.

As you guys may know, I own a media company that produces content for programmers, developers, web and mobile designers, etc. We make our money off of online courses and books that we publish. We have over 100,000 students in online courses-- Of those one of our five largest student "categories" is graphic designers upgrading their skill sets to include coding, which, I assume isn't happening in a vacuum.

My last job in Austin was running at "Top 5" web dev company that did both design and development. We did contract work for GSD&M, McGarrah Jesse, among others-- and guess what? Our designers had to know front end code. True everywhere? No. But certainly couldn't hurt.

[CTartist&musician]

Originally Posted by Stylo

This is not an area where you can prove me wrong.

Stylo, this has nothing to do with me and you or proving anyone wrong. This is about one artist/designer worried about another designer and alerting them to what is going on here. That is all.

You know what I would do also if I were the OP. Go onto sites like craigslist in the artist forum and ask this same question and other sites where you can talk to other artists/designers in this area to get a better idea from the artists/designers themselves.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

whom don't all do agency work

It's happening a lot in-house at brands. I won't name the one brand that a few friends work at in CT, but their online work shows. They want their designers to code and likewise, and the work frankly is not very good.

Designers should definitely know the workings of code, how to optimize for different devices, working knowledge of front and back end, limitations, etc. Whenever I hired a designer, I couldn't care less if he could code - but he better understand the basics of technology.

But again, I've still yet to see a digital art director listing in the last few years that required anymore than an understanding of code.

I don't think there's any argument that developers are in HUGE demand right now though.

Originally Posted by CTartist&musician

This is about one artist/designer worried about another designer and alerting them to what is going on here.

With info that is only true in an isolated few cases, whereas you asserted that my case was the isolated case - assuming again that I don't know the market that I've been closely involved with for over a decade. Again, the companies with the biggest opportunities in CT and especially in NYC will not require actual coding on the job for designers.

To the OP, Indeed is a good place to look no matter where you move.

http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=art+dir...=norwalk%2C+ct
http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=designer&l=norwalk%2C+ct

Here's a line for a Digital Senior Art Director opening (a position I once held):

"Fluent in today’s technologies and media with respect to design and marketing"