Which direction is better to choose: design or front end?

Question

Design

I'm about 20 years old, I'm trying to decide on the direction of my future activities. I want to do either website design or layout and programming (without hardcore, I'm a girl).
The fact is that there seems to be a taste, I know good programs from adobe, the html language, my friends said that I have the ability to draw, but do we need designers nowadays who cannot write a website themselves? if not, then it's better to go to the programmers right away.
I looked at the vacancies of web designers today, they don’t write code for some small salaries (((
What can you tell me, I’m confused.
I wouldn’t want to spray.

Answer 1

1. A web designer with knowledge of the basics of layout is the most correct designer.
2. A front-end specialist with an understanding of design is generally cool.
Be sure to read this report: https://events.yandex.ru/lib/talks/460/
3. Frontender-Designer - in modern conditions, an almost unattainable ideal))
Regarding "salaries" - please note that specialists in the html language (typesetters) are least in demand. Programming is noticeably more complicated than html.
Think))

Answer 2

In short: to be in demand as a designer and get good money, it is not at all necessary to be able to "write a website".
Design and frontend are two huge independent areas. Most often, companies that are looking for both a designer and a front-end developer in one person are simply trying to save money. The load on a front-end designer in such a company will be very high, and the salary will not be significantly higher than that of colleagues with a specific specialization. Companies that develop IT products/services understand that employees must be specialized to be more effective.
On the other hand, knowledge of the frontend by the designer, and knowledge of the design by the frontender is a big plus, since the designer and the frontender work within the same process, they often have to interact. Knowledge in the related field increases the quality of the process. But it makes sense to deepen knowledge in a related field only after a good level in specialization has been reached. The combination of design and front-end at the initial stages leads to a slowdown in the development of a specialist, this is what you called "disperse".
It should also be taken into account that choosing a specialization now does not exclude the possibility that you will be able to switch to another specialization in the future. For example, as far as I remember, some of the art directors (people who set the overall vision for the design team) at Yandex come from the frontend.
Don't let the salaries that catch your eye confuse you. Both high-level designers and front-end developers get paid well. Well, for the period of internship, companies can set their own conditions, there’s someone who’s good at what, this is not an indicator of future income.

Answer 3

About ten or twelve years ago I first met a serious discussion "Should a designer be able to draw?"
I was shocked at the very posing of the question.
At the time of the "scoop" designers were trained only in two educational institutions throughout the country with a competition for admission of 20-25 people / place. They took it only after graduating from art schools. And then drawing, painting, composition continued to exist in full, except that engineering disciplines were added to them. And after graduation. institutions, graduates received diplomas with the entry "Artist -..."
In the early 2000s, they came to the conclusion that designers began to be called those who performed the duties of those same artists, only without special education.
And now a counter question: how much did the level of the profession increase after "specialists" came into it, who decided that they had taste and abilities, instead of 9-10 years of hard training?