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How many interview rounds?2 rounds, taking approx. 90min total2 rounds, taking approx. 90min total1 elevator pitch, where you show us some stuff you’ve worked on1 elevator pitch, where you show us some stuff you’ve worked on1 skill-related live task1 skill-related live taskHow should you pitch yourself?Focus on side projects or completed tasks at past jobsFocus on side projects or completed tasks at past jobsTalk about real accomplishments, guide us through some of your projectsTalk about real accomplishments, guide us through some of your projectsTurn on your camera, and speak freely, no prepared speechesTurn on your camera, and speak freely, no prepared speechesDon’t focus on mandatory projects you did in school / university / bootcampDon’t focus on mandatory projects you did in school / university / bootcampKeep in mind - degrees are great but don’t make up for missing experienceKeep in mind - degrees are great but don’t make up for missing experience

Design Engineer is the latest label we're chucking onto the pile of obfuscatory design titles alongside interface designer, interaction designer, software designer, web designer, product designer, design systems architect, UI/UX designer, UX engineer, UI engineer, and front-of-the-front-end engineer.

Throwing this extra label onto the pile feels necessary though. Design engineer captures something simple, important, and worth distinguishing: a person who sits squarely at the intersection of design and engineering, and works to bridge the gap between them.

They're people who know how to run a design process to decide how something should work, look, and feel, and have the engineering chops to implement it. They can quickly iterate on ideas by cycling between design exploration, research, and live code. The skillset is ideal for prototyping, exploratory interaction design, and building robust design systems.

Most from a small set of companies like Vercel, Linear, The Browser Company and Replit, known for their attention to interface design detail and slick product interactions, who are clearly encouraging and cultivating design-engineer hybrids.

People are incentivised to only share their sexy, shiny, flawless creations, rather than their messy process or shameful failures. Some of the especially tedious and labourious work isn't easily shareable, such as advocating for robust design systems and cleaning up legacy code.

I am not under any illusions that these public works constitute the entirety of what design engineers create or spend all day making. I'm sure some spend their days “aligning stakeholders,” buried under a mountain of strategic documents and trapped by heirarchical approval chains. Say a small prayer for them.