Engineers Don't See Rivals They See Witnesses

Designers have imposter syndrome and worry they're not good enough when another designer joins the team. Meanwhile, engineers? They're just happy to have someone else who can witness the absolute dumpster fire of legacy code they inherited and confirm "yeah, this really is as bad as you thought."

Nothing builds solidarity faster than two engineers staring at a 2000-line function with no comments, written by someone who left the company five years ago. You don't need therapy when you have a coworker who can validate your suffering. That's just free emotional support with a side of code review.

Designers compete. Engineers form support groups.