This is all about what you define a designer as. For me a designer who isn't knee deep in code and data driven rich UX is useless.
Also, I think it's so boring and limiting to keep talking about such deep separations between skillsets.
It's all so simple: Good generalists/polymaths are more useful than one or the other.
Anyone who buckets themselves into an either/or is doomed to a limited career. Anyone who just says fuck it and does it all and keeps trying until they get it right is a far more useful asset.
So it's simple; this is not a golden age of designers, it's a golden age for smart multi-talented cross-skilled people. As it always has been and always will be. No amount of chirruping from one side of the fence or the other will change that. - If you are on a side of the fence then you are already limited.
Also, I think it's so boring and limiting to keep talking about such deep separations between skillsets.
It's all so simple: Good generalists/polymaths are more useful than one or the other.
Anyone who buckets themselves into an either/or is doomed to a limited career. Anyone who just says fuck it and does it all and keeps trying until they get it right is a far more useful asset.
So it's simple; this is not a golden age of designers, it's a golden age for smart multi-talented cross-skilled people. As it always has been and always will be. No amount of chirruping from one side of the fence or the other will change that. - If you are on a side of the fence then you are already limited.