Is the "creative vs. engineer" mind a myth?

I studied design and moved into development over time, I'm now a full-time developer. I have worked some jobs where I do both design and development before.
From my first-hand experience, I personally think it's a myth. In my slightly, biased opinion, being good at one makes you better at the other.

However, I think it requires very different modes of thinking. If you're spending a large part of your day tweaking a specific function on an application it can take time to step back and see the bigger picture to make a design decision about the application. and what's worse I don't think people are often aware of how much time and energy it takes for your brain to change gear between thinking of code and thinking of design.

In short, I think one person can be a designer and a developer. but not on the same day. Maybe do design Mondays and development Tuesdays.

I'm not sure if I know exactly the cliche you do, but I think it depends on how much freedom you have in your work.

If someone gives you exact specifications of what to draw, program, write, etc, then it's not very creative. If they just give you a goal or problem and you have to figure out what to draw, program, write, etc, then it will likely be very creative.

Drawing, and graphics programming are more right brained, writing and coding taxonomies are more left brained. It's visual-spatial vs verbal.

Yes enough with the boxes! :)

Ultimately, aren't we all just playing with Legos?

😄

I have worked as a software engineer and now I run a community of entrepreneurs and most of the engineers I meet are also entrepreneurs...

I'd say both yes and no.

Yes, so called "creative" jobs like marketing and designer require a very different way of thinking.

No, because engineering is incredibly creative. It's more art than science.

The best example I can think of comes from the car industry. I read years ago about high end cars having a fluid in their shock absorbers whose viscosity could be changed by putting an electric voltage across it (or something like that, it's been a while so the details are hazy). So the car can dynamically adjust the suspension's damping to smooth out the ride on a bumpy road without the car oscillating up and down.

Knowing that some materials can change their viscosity by applying an electric voltage is science. Realizing that you can use it to smoothen a car's ride, and designing a suspension system to do it, is art.

Left brain and right brain modes are absolutely a thing. I think the most brilliant among us are capable of leveraging both, and being able to jump between the two.

It takes creativity in the right brain to tackle a concept from a new angle, and it takes the rigid philosophy of the left brain to put it through its tests and to validate imo.

It's just hard as hell to balance the two and to remain neutral and open to new ideas (if you're a lefty) or to allow any sense of boundary and rigidity (if you're a righty).

I think most of us shade in one direction and it becomes very difficult to leverage the other side without actively thinking about it, and developing a mindset where both minds are "equally valued", so to speak

In short, I believe so, yes. I have been in rooms that had technical brilliance and others that had creative brilliance. I strongly believe that both “minds” actually do exist in the same brain, but one or the other can become “dominant” if the person in question learned from a young enough age or over enough years to think like a creative or an engineer. A classic example is anyone who goes to law school later in life. Obviously, law school is a place where students need to be able to use both sides of their brain to an extent to be successful, but law schools are known for teaching students “how to think” like a lawyer. What that really means to me in a fundamental sense is that, basically, as long as you have the capacity to learn, you have the ability to learn to think in a way you hadn’t before, regardless of the kind of thinking. Want to learn how to think like an engineer and become much more systematic and mathematical in your thinking? Go to engineering school, immerse yourself in that environment and allow yourself to soak in everything engineering. With enough time, you will “become” an engineer. Same thing writing. I really strongly believe this. Want to become a tv writer (an example)? Write, write, write, then write some more until your fingers go numb. Go take screenwriting classes if you want to learn how to write a screenplay in that way. Immerse yourself in an environment full of writers in any way you can. Spend years doing this. Write your calling card and try to get hired as a staff writer. Now, you’re a writer. Howard Gordon, creator of 24 and Homeland, brilliant writer, started as a lawyer and simply became bored with the profession. I don’t remember his story fully, but he had to work at it like everyone else. No one just starts a creative dynamo, regardless of their age. So, I’m a staunch believer that you can train yourself to be great as either a creative or engineer, but there will always be certain elements that you need to get there. The keys, to me, are great patience, great drive and having the skill to learn, ability to be and stay in the right environments.