The gap between man and machine
Being a builder, there's always this singular focus on the thing that I am working on - from how creative/elegant the solutions are to how much of the latest and greatest tools I have used in solutionizing. And I take some of pride in the development process. Research and design, on the other hand, requires a bit of detatchment from beginning with solutions and instead having a focus on the user and their problems.
It can seem humbling at first to view the user as in fact more knowlegeable than me, a builder, in order to empathize with them and understand their needs. However, as I discover that there's a lot to learn from talking to users, I find that this position quickly becomes empowering. Because I don't have to come up with the answers or a version of a solution that I think will work for a user. Instead, while really listening to a user, the answers lie in plain sight.
As a developer, a lot of job disatisfaction comes from the detachment of the product from the user as I become more enamored by the tools and not see what impact the product is having. A lot of designers (and design researchers), on the other hand, take the time to work with people and are focussed on bridging the gaps in their knowledge. And this shows at my work where a lot of user-centered people choose to do design and research as well as perform product managerial roles while the developers (builders) want to play with toys and keep building more and more until they outdo each other. While designers tend to the needs of the user, and advocate for them, developers sit in front of their screens pumping out lines of code like our lives depend on it - literally and figuratively. One of the most important metric working as a developer is the technical impact on a project (or multiple). This measure inherently pits developers on a scale from most to least impactful, rewarding those who are the most skillful, creative, fast and efficient. In other words, being able to build the biggest thing is what a developer is meant to do in their career.
Bridging that gap between man and machine is a necessary pursuit, as idealistic as it may be. Most of the time, we will fail, or get distracted by wanting to use the machine so badly that we will try to adjust ourselves to fit the machines instead of building ones that work for us. This work requires both good design in all its aspects and development skill to execute the designs. Perhaps this is where the gap is.