Is this quote really about design?? " have certainly been in a bad mood, gotten confused by a product, and found myself repeatedly smashing a button to no effect. In my frustration, I try the same thing, just harder. But it doesn’t help me accomplish my goal."

This sounds more like something that is broken. I wish there was a better example provided of bad design affecting the users mood.

Why do you think you're at the mercy of the programmers? Why can't you learn to build and deploy the code yourself? Seems like a bit of a bottleneck to put all your changes through a programmer.

Everyone has their skills. Not all designers are coders, even knowing how to efficiently create HTML and css isn't something that everybody needs to be great at.

I agree it is helpful that designers know the basics of html and css, but that isn't their job.

It's like asking a developer why they aren't also a designer. Why not just learn how to design.

Having said that I've met a few designers who are AMAZING programmers as well (or vice-versa) but it is a very rare and valuable combination.

I'm learning some design now through designlab (just started), but I likely won't become an amazing designer, I just want to get better and possibly improve my abilities to see what the designers see and I'm missing, and hopefully improve my ability to work and communicate with designers.