Is UX design undervalued?

I had this thought the other day. So I'll try to keep it brief from my experience. This really comes down to the company you work with and your leadership team, how strongly do they advocate for design?

My previous company - a design studio worked with some top companies in the world and india as design partners and since we were solely focused on the ux of the product, our input was taken very seriously. The culture within the company was also always design first. But this is expected when you are surrounded only by designers at a top level agency.

My current role at a product company in contrast is different. While we advocate for best design practices, it's always timelines and scope that reign supreme. Because it's the business goals that come first, which is understable and that's important to understand as a Product designer.

However I don't believe UX teams are the last to be considered. Since we are usually involved throughout the lifecycle of a product or feature. From the ideation phase right until testing and release. Although it's always the Dev's that credit when things go right, and the design team that takes shit when there's an issue.

Over time, I've realised - it's best to stay silent in both scenarios. Good work speaks for itself, do your best, learn from your mistakes, advocate for good design when you can, among Dev's and qa, and the people around will realise.