digital photo: Be a Hybrid Designer cum Developer..

Good designers and developers rule the web — they’re the ones who build it, after all. And some of the most interesting and useful players in creating the modern Internet (

) are hybrids between those two disciplines — people who can translate between the disparate languages of the visual and the technical.

Developers who can design and designers who can code are one-stop shops and hot commodities, especially in the startup world. Being a jack of all trades allows you to quickly and effectively take products from concept to shipment — something that young companies in particular are eager to do. These hybrids also make great product managers after a bit of experience in both disciplines.
So, if you’re a hacker who wants to do more than code, or you’re a designer who yearns to work on his development chops, how do you go from being an expert in just one field to a digital Swiss army knife professional?
Here are a few steps to get you started and some 140-character tips from others who’ve gone before you. And if you’ve already achieved a professional balance between the technical and the visual in your own career and skills, we welcome your advice in the comments, as well.

Improving Skills or Learning New Ones

The most difficult part of being a developer/designer is augmenting your current skill set with an entirely new group of languages, principles and knowledge. The bad news is that this will take a lot of time and effort on your part; probably years before you’re able to credibly call yourself a professional in both fields.
The good news is that there’s a boatload of information available for free and on the cheap to help you achieve your goals. For every skill you might want to learn, from programming languages to web design principles, there are books, courses, web forums and communities, and online tutorials galore. Get yourself in a sponge-like state of mind, and start researching what you need to learn to be the designer/developer you want to be.
If you’re the newest of noobs or are having a difficult time getting started, you might be interested in going a more formal route and seeking higher education courses that correspond to your interests. Personally, I have started a community college course to learn object-oriented programming, and I can tell you that a few hours in a 200-level class have actually done a lot more for my progress than days spent reading O’Reilly books and trying to get coaching from my developer friends. Because you’re learning an entirely new dialect and way of thinking, sometimes the best place to begin is at the beginning.

Having the Right Tools for the Job

While you’re learning, you’ll discover that practicing using your new skills is one of the most fun parts of the process. And practice will eventually make perfect (or some approximation thereof), but you can’t practice much without an entirely new suite of tools.
If you’re a designer, you’ll have to play with IDEs, code repositories and versioning systems, many of which are FOSS (Free and Open Source Software). Don’t be afraid to ask other developers what they use, and do some digging around to find the best tools for the languages and frameworks you’re using. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get feedback on your designs. Check out these 10 web design feedback services for starters.
If you’re a developer, we regret to inform you that your days of FOSS for professional use are coming to an end. Professional-grade design software is going to cost you, and it doesn’t behoove a professional designer/developer to use pirated software on client projects. However, if you took the higher-education route mentioned above, you could get some pretty deep student discounts. You also might want to invest in some new hardware, particularly a stylus-controlled graphics tablet, if you don’t have one already.
Some of the most exciting parts of your new toolkit will be the design/development workflows that allow you to exercise your new and more seasoned skills at the same time. For example, Adobe has some interesting design/development handoff software between Flash and Flex that you might want to check out. You might also want to test out split-screen design/code interfaces (these can be great as training wheels).

Networking Your Way to Greatness

As you read, practice and search for solutions to your problems, be they botched designs or buggy code. If you’re a new designer, you should be on the lookout for new blogs to add to your RSS feed (we especially recommend these people); if you’re new to coding, find a few hacker/bloggers in your preferred language or languages to follow around the web.
In the Venn diagram of web designers and web developers, there’s a healthy overlapping section of folks who’ve made successful careers from hybridized skill sets. Definitely read those blogs and make yourself a Twitter () list of those people, as well.
One interesting trend we’ve seen is a new crop of microsharing sites just for developers and designers. You can post snippets of code, be they beautiful or problematic; or you can share snapshots of your latest design. Others in the community will be there to give you feedback, advice and encouragement as needed. For new designers, check out Dribbble. For people new to coding, try CodeSnipp.it, and check for good examples at UseTheSource. And both designers and developers can get something good out of Forrst.
Remember: The most valuable part of networking as a relative noob is receiving and integrating valid and constructive criticism. Be humble and devoted to self-improvement over self-promotion.

Building Something

As a web pro, you’re used to constantly building and creating new applications and sites. One of the first things you’ll be itching to do with your skills is to actually make something with them.
When practicing and learning, you’ll be creating a bunch of small, one-off programs and/or designs; however, as your skills advance, you should also start thinking about how you want to give back to the community and create a useful tool or application (or even a simple game) that others can use.
You can spend your days and nights tinkering away on solo work and personal side projects; building something from the ground up that looks and runs beautifully will give you an entirely new kind of pride in your work. You can also sign up for any number of hackathons if you want the added pressure of a hard deadline and the camaraderie of a collaborative environment. Here are a few hackathons we recommend; you can also gather a few friends and host one yourself.
Once you get the hang of designing and developing by yourself or as part of a small team, you might want to take on some small consulting projects to test your newfound skills under professional circumstances, too. Also, doing this work for a client rather than just for yourself will add a new level of legitimacy to your growing résumé.

Re-Entering the Job Market

Now that you’ve re-educated yourself and have actually built something (or, better yet, a few somethings) to attest to your hybrid skill set, it’s time to frame yourself as a designer/developer to the rest of the world.
Even if you’re staying with the same employer, make sure your supervisors know about and have seen your recent cross-discipline side projects. You might ask them to consider a lateral move including a wider range of tasks or a promotion with a pay raise.
If you’re a solo, consultant or freelancer, it’s time to give your website and portfolio a major overhaul. Put your new skills to work and build something amazing from the ground up. At this point, your client-facing web presence should show (i.e. actively and impressively demonstrate) rather than tell (i.e. list in text) your talents.
And if you’re in the job market looking for a full-time position, a new résumé is in order along with a new web presence. Get creative with how you showcase your dual-core skill set, and make sure you’re applying for companies and positions that need someone who can do it all, not just an expert in one field or the other.

Words of Wisdom

We reached out to a number of designer/devs on Twitter and asked for any advice they’d pass on to a designer or developer who was trying to transition into a broader career path. Here’s what they had to say:

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Advice for Would-Be Developer/Designers