Programmer who knows good design
Out of context: Reply #54
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- SteveJobs0
i haven't read every response here, but when you work for bigger companies there's yet greater distinction to be made between the roles of a "Programmer" and a "Designer" as there's generally a third role which often facilitates the whole development process. This 3rd cog is often known as the "Front-End Developer". This is probably the thankless code-monkey the original poster was referring to.
Depending on the technology used, a true programmer generally won't even touch the front-end. The front-end being html, css, javascript, and in the case of technologies like .Net will likely not even be responsible for the server-side controls or the event handlers for those controls. They, will be working on building the implementation to the interfaces the "Architechts" build out or creating stored procs, or building API's for the front-end developer to use. They will build web handlers/web services, content-delivery network systems, caching systems, dll's and other low-level pieces - none of which are remotely related to the tasks the original poster referred to.
Having said all that, the front-end developer "should" have a solid understanding of cross-browser dev as it relates to CSS, HTML, Javascript and Ajax. They won't have the true sensabilities of a designer, just the competance and hopefully passion for that thankless line of work to code a pixel-perfect representation of what the designer gave them.