blair_dixon•16d agoProlific Poster

My coworker told me to stop reinventing the wheel 3 years ago

I kept building custom buttons and modals for every new project instead of just reusing the component library. After I hit 5 different button styles across 2 apps I finally saw she was right. Did anyone else fight against using a design system at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_jackson916d ago

Did you ever stop to think that maybe your coworker wasn't just trying to save time, but also trying to save you from getting totally boxed into one way of building things? I figure custom code keeps your skills sharp, but using a design system forces you to learn how to work with constraints and that's a different kind of growth. How has your workflow changed since you finally started reusing those components?

the_diana16d ago

You said "custom code keeps your skills sharp" and I think that's missing the point a little. Yeah, writing custom stuff is fun and you learn things, but the real skill is knowing when your custom code is actually worth the extra work. Building five different button styles doesn't teach you anything useful past the first one. It's just busywork. The design system saved me from wasting time on stuff that already worked fine. Now I spend that time on the hard problems that actually need custom solutions.